UNIVERSITY  OF 

ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 

AT  URBANA  CHAMPAIGN 


Miracles  in  the  Slums 


OR 


THRILLING  STORIES 

Of  Those  Rescued  from  the  Cesspools  of  Iniquity,  and  Touch- 
ing Incidents  in  the  Lives  of  the  Unfortunate 


By  SETH  COOK  REES 

Author  of  "The  Ideal  Pentecostal  Church"  "  Fire  from 
Heaven,''  and  the  "Holy  War." 


"He  hath  sent  me  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to  proclaim  lib- 
erty to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  are 
bound."  Isaiah  61 :  i. 


SETH  COCK  REES,  PUBLISHER 

4.350  Lowell   Ave. 

CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,  1905, 
BY  SETH  COOK  REES. 


>K?} 


DEDICATION. 

To  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  my 
fallen  sisters  in  America:  to  three  million  home- 
less, friendless,  tramping  men:  to  one  hundred 
thousand  men  and  boys  in  penitentiaries,  work- 
houses, and  jails:  to  one  hundred  thousand  news- 
boys :  to  one  hundred  thousand  bootblacks :  to  the 
sick,  destitute,  and  unfortunate  everywhere,  is 
this  book  tenderly  dedicated,  with  the  Christian 
love  of  the  author. 

May  2O, 


PREFACE. 

As  the  time  has  come  to  send  forth  this  book 
to  the  reading  public,  I  have  a  very  keen  sense 
of  the  fact  that  it  but  faintly  .portrays  the  awful 
situation  as  found  in  our  great  centers  of  popu- 
lation. While  some  of  our  statements  will  be  re- 
garded by  many  as  extravagant,  and  our  word- 
pictures  as  overdrawn,  yet  as  I  think  of  it  now, 
I  have  a  deep  and  growing  conviction  that  in  our 
setting  forth  these  pages  we  have  not  approx- 
imated a  fair  description  of  the  real  state  of  things 
as  they  exist  to-day. 

There  are  some  things  that  can  not  be  exag- 
gerated. No  newspaper  reporter  has  ever  yet 
been  able  in  his  description  to  overdraw  a  real 
cyclone,  and  if  you  have  ever  been  in  one,  you 
are  quite  ready  to  agree  with  me.  The  slime, 
squalor,  and  crime  of  our  slimiest  slums  baffles 
all. power  of  description;  in  fact,  we  would  not, 
if  we  could,  attempt  to  describe  much  that  we 
have  found  of  unnameable  sin,  shame,  and  crime. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  at 
times  been  greatly  burdened  for  the  neglected, 
fallen,  and  poverty-stricken  of  this  world.  When 
but  a  youth  I  was  often  melted  to  tears  and  moved 

7 


8  PREFACE. 

to  deep  feelings  of  compassion  in  reading  the 
stories  of  London's  poor,  or  the  street  urchins  of 
our  great  American  cities.  In  all  these  years 
the  story  of  a  fallen  woman  has  simply  broken 
my  heart,  but  I  never  imagined  that  God  would 
ever  honor  me  with  the  glorious  privilege  of  being 
connected  in  any  small  way  with  a  movement  for 
the  accomplishment  of  such  an  exalted  work. 

My  primary  object  in  setting  forth  these  pages 
is  the  honor  of  God  by  showing  positively,  and 
with  emphasis,  the  power  of  Christ  to  save  the 
lowest  of  the  low,  to  renew  the  most  ruined  and 
wrecked  lives,  and  revive  and  restore  the  most 
blasted  hopes. 

Second,  to  reach  the  unreached,  unwashed,  and 
unchurched,  and  lead  them  to  the  Christ  who 
has  wrought  such  marvelous  transformation  in 
the  lives  of  those  whose  history  is  given  here. 

Third,  to  give  an  incentive  to  the  faith  and  holy 
activity  of  good  people  everywhere,  many  of 
whom  have  never  been  sufficiently  aroused  to  the 
sense  of  the  magnitude  of  sin,  or  the  possibilities 
of  grace.  I  sincerely  pray  Almighty  God,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son,  and  my  Saviour, 
to  use  this  book  as  a  means  to  this  end.  Ten  thou- 
sand blessings  upon  all  who  read  these  pages. 

SETH  COOK  REES. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A  MARKET  FOR  GIRLS 13 

LITTLE  MAY  —  HER  CAPTURE  AND  RESCUE 21 

A  NATION'S  SHAME   25 

ORPHA  —  FROM  THE  BROTHEL  TO  THE  PULPIT 29 

A  NIGHT  IN  "  LITTLE  HELL  " 37 

DICIE  —  THE  SPORTING  MADAM    43 

"A  SLUMMY  SLUM  "  49 

MARGARET  —  THE  BARREL-HOUSE  SPORT 55 

AMONG  THE  TOMBS  61 

AN  ARTLESS  GIRL  65 

FROM  AN  ATTIC  TO  A  MANSION 69 

FROM  A  SALOON  TO  HELL  73 

A  "  BUMMY  BUM  "  79 

LULU  —  A  STRANGE  STORY 89 

LITTLE  ELLA  —  FROM  THE  OPIUM  DEN  TO  THE  SACRED 

DESK  93 

THANKSGIVING  IN  CHICAGO  SLUMS  99 

RESCUED  FROM  CHICAGO  JAIL  103 

CHRISTINE  —  A  BROKEN-HEARTED  GIRL    107 

A  SLUM  FEAST 113 

LILLIE  —  A  FRIENDLESS  CHILD   119 

Miss  M 127 

BERNIE  133 

LULU  L. —  FROM  DRUNKENNESS  TO  WOMANHOOD 143 

MABEL  —  HER  RUIN  AND  REDEMPTION  147 

BERTHA  AND  ESTHER  —  TWIN  SISTERS  151 

A  SALOONKEEPER'S  DAUGHTER  : 155 

MYRTLE   159 

PETE'S  PLACE  —  A  Low  DIVE 165 

JULIA   169 

A  GLIMPSE  IN  THE  SLUMS 179 

9 


10  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

LUCY  —  A  WHITE  SLAVE 185 

POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL 191 

LITTLE  H 211 

CHRIST  IN  THE  SLUMS  217 

B ; 221 

PEARL  —  A  MARVELOUS  TRANSFORMATION  227 

RESCUED  FROM  AWFUL  SIN 231 

A  CONVERTED  SALOONKEEPER 235 

A  MISSIONARY  IN  A  DIVE  —  TESTIMONY  OF  J.  A.  S.. .  239 

TESTIMONY  OF  BROTHER  K .  243 

A  DONATION  247 

DOES  RESCUE  WORK  PAY  ? > 249 

CHILDREN  IN  THE  SLUMS 257 

JUDGMENT  IN  THE  SLUMS  261 

FANNY  —  THE  NOTORIOUS  HIGH-LIFE  SPORT   265 

RESCUE  WORK 273 

A  WEDDING  IN  REST  COTTAGE 279 

TESTIMONY  OF  ONE  OF  OUR  BEST  GIRLS 283 

MAY  JENSEN  289 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

THE  AUTHOR  Frontispiece 

MRS.  SETH  C.  REES,  OUR  FIRST  SLUM  MISSIONARY.  . .  12 

LITTLE  MAY   20 

ORPHA    28 

DICIE   42 

CUSTOM-HOUSE  PLACE,  CHICAGO   48 

A  CHICAGO  HOUSE 52 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS.  n 

MARGARET  54 

HALLIE 64 

GROUP  OF  GIRLS  AND  MISSIONARIES 68 

A  BUMMY  BUM   78 

LULU   88 

ELLA   92 

THANKSGIVING  IN  CHICAGO  SLUMS 98 

RESCUED  FROM  CHICAGO  JAIL 102 

CHRISTINE   106 

A  SLUM  FEAST 112 

THREE  SLUM  MISSIONARIES 118 

Miss  M 126 

REST  COTTAGE 132 

LULU  L 142 

MINNIE,  Now  ASSISTANT  MATRON,  AND  "  DODO  ". . . .  146 

TEXAS  REST  COTTAGE 150 

REST  COTTAGE,  CHICAGO 154 

FOUR  MISSIONARIES  '.  164 

JULIA  168 

A  GROUP  OF  CHICAGO  GIRLS 178 

LUCY 184 

NEW  ENGLAND  REST  COTTAGE,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  1 190 

FAITH  COTTAGE,  ASHEVILLE,  N.  C. 210 

PICKING  COAL  216 

REST  COTTAGE,  No.  3,  GREENSBOROUGH,  N.  C 226 

BELLA 230 

CARL,  THE  CONVERTED  BAR-TENDER 234 

EVA  246 

ANNA    256 

FANNY    264 

FEMALE  PRISONERS  EATING  CHRISTMAS  DINNER 272 

RESCUE  HOME  AT  COLUMBUS,  OHIO 278 


MRS.  S.  C.  REES,  OUR  FIRST  SLUM  MISSIONARY. 


A  MARKET  FOR  GIRLS. 

WE  are  often  confronted  by  those  who  persist  in 
discrediting  and  denying  the  existence  of  a  well- 
organized  commercial  trade  in  girls  in  this  coun- 
try. But  as  certainly  as  cattle  and  hogs  are  bought 
and  sold  in  the  stockyards  in  Chicago,  so  certainly 
are  thousands  of  pure,  artless,  innocent  girls  pro- 
cured from  every  State  in  the  Union  and  sold  in 
the  market  in  "  Custom  House  Place,"  "  Little 
Hell,"  "  Black  Lane,"  "  Tenderloin  District,"  or 
some  such  precincts  of  sin.  These  commercial 
devils  of  both  sexes  as  really  own  and  hold  the 
girls  in  their  possession  as  any  Southern  slave- 
holder ever  controlled  the  negroes  owned  by  him. 

These  poor  girls  are  behind  closed  doors  of 
shame,  and  walls  thicker  than  any  penitentiary 
walls.  Held  in  bondage  to  the  brutal  passions  of 
beastly  men,  their  slavery  is  more  infernal  than  any 
slavery  of  this  or  any  other  country. 

Hundreds  of  these  American  daughters  are  in- 
carcerated where  their  sobs  and  groans  are  never 
heeded,  and  their  midnight  cries  are  never  heard. 
The  public  seemed  temporarily  shocked  when 
three  of  these  pure  country  girls  who  had  been 
allured  from  Canadian  homes,  were  recovered 

13 


14  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

from  one  of  these  haunts  of  shame,  in  Chicago,  and 
returned  to  their  parents  and  native  homes. 

They  were  induced  to  leave  home  under  the 
promise  of  easy  employment  and  large  pay,  never 
dreaming  they  were  as  lambs  going  to  their  slaugh- 
ter. At  the  depot  they  were  met  and  ushered  into 
a  closed  carriage,  driven  to  a  certain  number  in  a 
certain  street;  the  door  opened,  they  were  ushered 
in,  the  door  closed.  Alas!  they  were  in  the 
vestibule  of  hell.  Placed  in  an  inner  court,  their 
screams  and  cries  could  not  be  heard  to  the  street. 
Robbed  of  their  virtue,  they  were  ruined  for  life, 
and  for  two  long  weeks  suffered  untold  torture. 

Eternity  alone  can.  reveal  the  agony  and  horror 
of  those  awful  days,  and  "  awfuller  "  nights.  At 
the  end  of  two  strange,  black  weeks,  days  so  ray- 
less,  and  nights  so  starless,  that  to  these  pure 
country  girls  it  seemed  like  hell  itself,  a  little  col- 
ored girl  who  scrubbed  the  front  steps  dropped 
a  word  to  a  passing  policeman,  and  the  chief  sent 
a  posse  of  officers  with  shotguns,  and  the  enslaved 
daughters  were  rescued  and  returned  to  their  dis- 
tracted parents. 

But  they  were  ruined,  their  names  were 
tarnished,  their  lives  withered,  blighted,  and 
damned,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  commercial 
agent  received  more  than  seventy-five  dollars  for 


A   MARKET   FOR  GIRLS.  1 5 

the  three  of  them.  We  have  never  found  a  higher 
market  for  the  most  attractive  and  desirable  than 
thirty  dollars  a  head.  Many  of  our  girls  who  are 
now  wonderfully  saved  were  sold  in  the  market 
for  five  dollars,  and  some  of  them  went  as  low  as 
two  dollars  a  head. 

Mother,  what  value  do  you  place  upon  your 
daughter?  You  probably  value  her  very  highly, 
but  she  has  another  value  —  a  commercial  value, 
in  this  commercial  world,  and  it  is  probably  some- 
where from  five  to  twenty-five  dollars.  If  she  has 
a  fine  form,  a  beautiful  face,  and  is  in  every  way 
attractive,  and  should  be  put  on  a  bullish  market, 
she  might  bring  twenty-five  or  thirty  dollars;  but 
if  she  is  an  ordinary  girl,  no  difference  how  much 
you  love  her,  she  will  not  bring  as  much  if  sold  by 
the  pound  as  well-fatted  hogs  are  worth  in  the 
Union  Stockyards  of  Chicago.  This  is  the  value 
placed  on  your  darling  by  this  licentious  rum- 
soaked  world.  I  am  not  dealing  in  sentimental- 
ism.  I  am  not  pessimistic,  and  yet  I  pity  the  man 
who  feels  forced  to  be  an  optimist  in  these  days 
of  thickening  gloom. 

I  am  dealing  with  great,  rugged,  bald,  craggy 
facts, —  bare  hard  facts  that  you  had  just  as  well 
face.  In  one  of  the  most  popular  American  cities 
we  found  a  liquor  dealer  with  his  stock  pens  in  the 


16  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

\ 

same  building  where  his  saloon  was  situated.  The 
market  pen  was  screened  off  with  lattice  from  the 
floor  to  the  ceiling,  or  so  high  that  escape  was  im- 
possible. The  girls  were  turned  into  that  en- 
closure, and  men  looked  them  over  through  that 
wire  screen  and  made  their  choice  just  as  they 
would  select  any  other  article  of  merchandise. 

One  of  our  Chicago  missionaries  has  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  one  of  the  most  difficult  undertakings 
of  gaining  admittance  into  a  Japanese  sporting 
house,  or  a  house  where  only  Japanese  girls  are 
kept.  The  most  beautiful  and  innocent-looking 
Japanese  girls  that  can  be  found  in  the  empire  are 
bought  and  shipped  to  this  country  for  such  pur- 
poses of  cruelty  and  shame.  The  house,  while  it 
is  kept  by  an  American  woman,  is  after  the  Jap- 
anese style,  and  in  elegance  and  splendor,  baffles 
description.  The  house  is  patronized  only  by 
wealthy,  aristocratic,  American  men.  The  girls 
are  all  small  and,  dressed  in  the  finest  silks,  they 
look  like  beautiful  dolls.  Think  of  their  heart- 
aches and  sorrows  —  strangers  among  strangers. 
The  same  infernal  commercial  business  is  carried 
on  by  shipping  our  American  girls  in  droves  to 
the  foreign  lands  to  receive  the  same  treatment. 
One  of  our  friends,  a  missionary  in  Bombay, 
India,  was  notified  that  on  a  certain  steamer  there 


A  MARKET  FOR  GIRLS.  i? 

were  twenty-six  American  girls,  who  had  been 
shipped  under  promise  of  employment  with  a  cer- 
tain great  corporation,  with  good  pay,  but  that 
they  were  shipped  to  an  agent  for  the  sporting 
market.  The  missionary,  as  well  as  the  agent,  was 
on  the  lookout  for  them.  But  the  vessel  came  a  day 
earlier  than  the  agent  expected,  and  he  was  not  at 
the  wharf.  The  missionary  was  there,  and  when 
those  twenty-six  girls  stood  on  the  wharf,  and  were 
informed  what  they  were  in  India  for,  they  wept 
and  sobbed,  and  even  screamed  aloud.  Thank 
God!  she  had  a  place  to  take  them  to,  and  rescued 
them  all  from  ruin.  But  it  breaks  our  hearts  to 
think  of  the  thousands  who  are  less  fortunate.  One 
of  the  most  adroit  methods  used  in  this  fiendish 
merchandise  of  souls  is  the  "  mock  marriage." 
Elegantly  dressed  demons  in  human  form,  gallant 
in  manners,  attentive  to  a  fault,  with  the  most  de- 
ceptive words,  gain  the  confidence,  then  the  affec- 
tions, of  the  most  innocent  and  artless  of  American 
daughters. 

Mock  licenses  are  obtained,  the  services  of  a 
mock  preacher  are  secured,  and  the  parsonage 
proves  to  be  a  house  of  ill  fame,  and  this  introduces 
my  first  story  —  the  relation  of  which  is  intended  to 
not  only  glorify  God,  and  magnify  the  grace  of 
His  dear  Son,  but  to  warn  parents  and  daughters 


1 8  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

everywhere,  for  this  dark  misfortune  comes  not 
only  to  those  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life,  but  to 
the  palatial  homes,  boulevards,  and  avenues. 


LITTLE   MAY. 


"  LITTLE  MAY." 

A  COMMERCIAL  agent  traveling  in  the  interest 
of  one  of  the  well-known  houses  of  shame  in  Cin- 
cinnati, was  making  a  business  trip  through  the 
South.  He  approached  a  certain  town,  registered 
in  a  good  hotel,  and  started  out  in  search  of  vic- 
tims. 

As  soon  as  his  eyes  fell  upon  the  attractive  form 
and  beautiful  face  of  "  Little  May,"  he  began  lay-- 
ing plans  for  her  ruin.  He  had  made  a  study  of 
human  nature,  and  saw  in  her  a  fine  specimen  of 
womanhood.  He  promptly  embraced  what  he 
knew  to  be  a  rare  opportunity.  He  was  most  care- 
ful  of  all  "his  movements.  At  first  his  point  was 
merely  to  meet  her  every  few  days,  and  every  time 
so  polite  as  to  soon  make  her  feel  she  was  some- 
what acquainted  with  him,  and  then  when  re- 
ceived into  her  home  it  was  always  in  the  pres- 
ence of  her  parents.  He  so  completely  covered 
his  tracks  that  nothing  appeared  out  of  the  way. 

He  secured  her  confidence,  won  her  affections, 
and  in  a  short  time  proposed  marriage.  It  seemed 
impossible  for  her  to  decline  the  offer.  Her 
parents  were  Christians,  and  had  strange  impres- 
sions about  it  all,  but  seemed  unable  to  dissuade 

21 


22  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

her  from  her  purpose.  The  villain  had  completely 
captured  her  affectionate  nature;  she  loved  him, 
and  would  go  with  him  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Having  succeeded  thus  far,  he  gave  plausible  rea- 
sons why  they  should  be  married  in  Cincinnati. 

To  this  her  parents  stoutly  objected,  but  to  no 
purpose.  When  in  Cincinnati,  a  license  was 
secured  (she  supposed  it  was  a  license),  and  they 
went  to  the  "  parsonage  "  ( ?)  (she  was  told  it  was 
a  parsonage),  where  they  would  be  joined  in  a 
happy  union.  She  was  only  seventeen,  and  her 
young,  confiding  heart  was  full  of  hope.  When 
the  parsonage  ( ?)  door  was  opened  and  they  were 
ushered  in,  she  found  herself  amid  strange  sur- 
roundings. Very  soon  her  supposed  husband  ex- 
cused himself  with  the  promise  that  he  would  re- 
turn soon. 

Little  May  was  overwhelmed  by  the  strange 
actions  about  her,  and  when  her  supposed  hus- 
band's return  seemed  delayed,  there  came  a  great 
lump  in  her  throat,  and  with  streaming  eyes,  and 
a  forlorn  look,  she  sat  there  one  of  the  purest 
of  girls  amid  the  vilest  of  earth.  But,  oh!  who  can 
imagine  her  feelings  when  the  madam  told  her  he 
would  never  return  —  that  she  had  just  paid  him 
thirty  dollars  for  her. 

Her  anguish  and  grief  seemed  too  much  for  any 


"  LITTLE  MAY."  23 

human  frame.  No  pen  can  describe  it — it  can 
never  be  expressed.  She  was  only  told  that  it  was 
not  worth  while  to  weep,  that  it  was  an  easy  way  of 
making  money,  and  she  would  soon  overcome  those 
feelings.  . 

Little  do  fathers  and  mothers  think  as  their  little 
brood  gather  about  the  evening  fireside  in  the 
childish  glee  of  a  happy  home,  that  such  a  fate 
should  ever  come  to  them.  But,  alas!  the  plun- 
derer's hand  is  abroad — the  destroyer  is  in  the 
land!  It  was  two  or  three  months  before  Little 
May's  escape  was  possible.  One  day  one  of  our 
faithful  missionaries  forced  an  entrance  into  that 
haunt  of  vice,  and  Little  May  was  recovered  and 
brought  to  one  of  our  Rescue  Homes. 

It  was  not  long  till  she  was  wonderfully  saved 
from  all  sin,  and  after  a  short  time  we  returned  her 
to  her  heart-broken  parents  in  the  South.  They 
had  wept  and  prayed  and  cried  to  God  day  and 
night  for  some  clue  to  their  precious  darling  who 
seemed  lost  to  them  forever. 

Can  you  imagine  their  joy  when  she  re-entered 
the  old  home  and  rested  her  throbbing  head  just 
where  it  used  to  rest  on  her  mother's  breast? 
When  her  father  planted  kiss  after  kiss  just  where 
he  used  to  plant  them  in  her  childhood  days? 
You  ask  if  rescue  work  pays?  Beloved,  if  Link 


24  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

May  had  been  my  daughter,  don't  you  suppose 
I  would  think  it  pays?  If  May  had  been  your 
daughter,  would  you  have  ever  asked  the  ques- 
tion? 

I  am  often  asked  what  per  cent  of  the  girls 
rescued  really  get  saved,  and  stand  true.  I  have 
just  had  a  report  from  one  of  our  Homes  which 
includes  an  answe^r  to  that  question.  It  is,  that 
eighty-five  per  cent  of  all  who  have  come  into  that 
Home  have  proved  true.  Where  is  an  evangelist 
that  can  show  such  proportionate  results  in 
churches?  Who  can  show  sixty  per  cent,  forty  per 
cent,  or  ten  per  cent,  of  their  converts  at  the  end  of 
a  year?  Jesus  always  thought  it  would  pay  to 
save  the  fallen,  and  I  know  of  no  investment  equal 
to  it  anywhere.  To  Him  be  all  the  glory  for  the 
power  of  the  Gospel  in  the  slums. 


A  NATION'S  SHAME. 

"  I  AM  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ." 
There  is  much  to  be  ashamed  of  in  these  days,  both 
in  the  Church  and  State.  The  Church  should  be 
ashamed  that  she  is  utterly  failing  to  evangelize 
the  world.  While  all  Christendom  made  three 
million  professed  converts  to  Christianity,  in  the 
foreign  field  the  heathen  increased  two  hundred 
million.  In  the  face  of  this  fact  she  should  be 
ashamed  to  listen  to  her  high  salaried,  ease-loving, 
time  serving  preachers,  announcing  that  the  world 
is  getting  better,  and  that  we  are  approaching  a 
millennium  of  righteousness.  She  should  be 
ashamed  of  her  tall  steeples,  thundering  organs, 
thick  carpets,  and  salaried  singers,  with  no  con- 
verts. She  should  be  ashamed  that  her  church 
fairs,  festivals,  bazaars,  and  shows  are  thronged 
with  people,  and  the  prayer-meeting  can  hardly  be 
sustained.  At  a  little  country  Quaker  church,  there 
were  fifty  to  the  social  one  night,  and  only  one  to 
the  prayer-meeting  the  next.  My  information 
leads  me  to  believe  that  this  is  a  common  propor- 
tion in  Protestantism. 

The  State  should  be  ashamed  of  the  hundreds 
of  ship  loads  of  distilled  damnation  she  is  shipping 

25 


26  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

into  the  ports  of  less  enlightened  nations,  to  wreck 
their  homes,  widow  their  wives,  make  orphans  of 
their  children,  and  damn  their  souls  in  an  eternal 
hell.  This  government  should  be  ashamed  that  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  nation,  there  are  three  million 
mountaineers,  who  are  most  of  them  unable  to 
either  read  or  write,  and  are  practically  without 
the  Gospel  of  Christ 

She  has  three  million  homeless,  friendless, 
tramping  men.  Most  of  people  fear  and  dread 
them,  and  no  one  scarcely  loves  them.  You  may 
have  given  some  of  them  a  sandwich  at  the  back 
door  to  get  rid  of  them,  but  who  invites  them  in 
and  points  them  to  Jesus?  Who  gets  them  on 
their  knees  for  prayer?  There  are  a  hundred 
thousand  newsboys  and  one  hundred  thousand 
bootblacks,  but  few  of  them  have  ever  been  prayed 
for  by  name.  Who  knows  their  names?  Many 
of  them  have  no  name  except  "  Dick,"  "  Tut," 
"  Jim,"  "  Bob,"  "  Toad,"  or  "  Jack."  Many  of 
them  sleep  in  goods'  boxes,  cellar  ways,  box-cars, 
or  dark  alleys.  Nobody  to  tuck  them  in,  and  no 
one  to  say  "  good-night." 

There  are  a  hundred  thousand  men  and  boys  in 
penitentiaries,  workhouses  and  jails,  who  are  there 
on  account  of  a  legalized  traffic  in  wholesale. dam- 
nation, This  infernal  trade  is  not  only  made  possi- 


A  NATION'S  SHAME.  27 

ble  by  the  ballot  of  the  American  people,  but  re- 
ceives the  sanction  of  a  so-called  Christian  nation. 

But  worst  of  all  there  are  three  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  of  most  beautiful  American  girls 
behind  sealed  doors  and  walls  thicker  than  any 
penitentiary  walls  —  slaves  to  the  brutal  passions 
of  beastly  men.  Their  sobs,  groans,  and  midnight 
cries  are  unheeded,  and  their  sorrow  is  unknown 
to  the  world.  This  should  certainly  make  a  nation 
blush  with  shame,  and  send  the  Christian  church  to 
her  knees  with  prayers  and  tears. 

Thank  God  for  something  of  which  we  are  never 
ashamed.  It  is  the  Gospel  of  Christ  —  a  gospel 
for  the  poor,  the  fallen,  and  the  hopeless,  and  if  you 
read  this  book,  you  will  not  wonder  at  its  title,  or 
at  our  convictions. 


ORPHA,  THE  CIGARETTE  FIEND. 

IT  would  seem  that  God  is  going  out  of  His 
way,  in  these  last  days,  to  lift  up  and  save  poor, 
lost,  wrecked,  and  ruined  lives.  He  has  always 
loved  the  fallen,  but  the  truly  observing  can  hardly 
fail  to  notice  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  giving  special 
attention  to  the  neglected  and  submerged  classes. 
It  would  be  wise  as  well  as  pious  for  us  to  give 
more  attention  to  those  to  whom  the  Lord  is  show- 
ing special  attention. 

Christ  was  a  traveling  Saviour;  He  journeyed 
from  city  to  city,  from  village  to  village  and  from 
hamlet  to  hamlet.  When  He  was  rejected  at  one 
place,  He  went  to  another;  and  He  commanded 
His  followers  to  do  the  same.  He  is  just  the  same 
to-day.  Educational  and  ecclesiastical  seminaries 
of  the  world  have  had  their  opportunity  and  in  the 
early  part  of  the  last  century  great  revivals  of 
Bible  salvation  broke  out  in  many  of  the  colleges 
and  universities  of  America;  and  many  of  the 
churches  enjoyed  great  out-pourings  of  grace, 
but  having  been  rejected  and  often  insulted,  the 
blessed  Spirit  seems  to  have  gone  outside  of  the 
city  walls,  under  the  hedges,  through  the  valleys, 
and  to  the  grimy  lanes  of  life  to  seek  the  fallen, 
and  they  seem  much  more  anxious  to  have  Him 

29 


30  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

than  those  Scribes  and  Pharisees  or  doctors  of  the 
law. 

Orpha,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Ohio.  Her  father  was  a  wicked  man;  her  mother, 
a  godly,  praying  woman,  went  to  heaven  when 
Orpha  was  fifteen  years  old --just  at  the  time 
when  she  most  needed  the  protection  and  counsel 
of  a  mother.  A  stepmother  soon  turned  her 
father  against  his  children  and  the  poor  girl  was 
homeless.  She  worked  in  a  shoe  factory,  the  pay 
was  not  large  and  she  had  a  hard  time. 

O,  how  my  heart  breaks  over  the  thousands  of 
friendless  girls  in  mills,  shops,  and  cotton  factor- 
ies, struggling  for  food  and  clothes  and  exposed  to 
awful  temptation  to  sin  and  ruin!  These  girls  feel 
keenly  the  need  of  some  one  to  love  and  care  for 
them.  Thousands  of  women  are  bestowing  their 
affections  on  a  poodle  dog  or  a  sleepy  old  cat,  who 
ought  to  rise  up  and  take  these  girls  into  their 
homes  and  hearts. 

Orpha's  first  break  into  sin  was  not  until  she  was 
twenty  years  old  and  then  under  promise  of  mar- 
riage. How  shall  the  daughters  of  our  land  be 
warned  against  the  scoundrels  who  with  good 
clothes  and  fair  promises  are  ruining  whole  regi- 
ments of  girls?  When  deserted  by  the  one  who 
had  sworn  to  support  her,  there  seemed  nothing 


ORPHA,  THE  CIGARETTE  FIEND.  31 

to  open  before  her  but  a  life  of  shame.  She  went  to 
church,  but  they  did  not  have  salvation  to  save 
her;  the  saloon  and  brothel  were  wide  open  to  her. 
A  well-dressed  man,  a  demon  in  human  form, 
came  to  the  country  village  and  under  promise  of 
good  clothes  and  a  nice  home  with  light  work,  he 
allured  the  tired  girl  to  Cincinnati  and  sold  her  to 
a  house  of  shame.  Her  cries  and  groans  were  un- 
answered; she  was  lost  to  the  world  and  woman- 
hood and  there  was  nobody  to  care.  The  man  was 
a  professional  procurer,  and  in  this  case  received 
only  two  dollars  each  for  the  girls  above  their 
traveling  expenses. 

Mother,  how  much  is  your  daughter  worth? 
Have  you  a  daughter  under  twenty  years  of  age? 
Would  you  sell  her  for  two  dollars?  Father,  what 
do  you  think  of  a  man  who  would  allure  your 
daughter  away,  and  then  sell  her  for  two  dollars 
to  be  a  slave  to  the  brutal  passions  of  beastly  men? 
The  sweet,  pure  child  who  has  climbed  into  your 
lap,  and  fondly  stroked  your  whiskers  so  many 
times;  perhaps  she  is  sitting  on  your  knee  while 
you  read  this  sketch ;  she  may  yet  be  exposed  to  this 
hellish  scheme.  There  are  hundreds  of  men 
abroad  in  the  land  to-day  whose  business  is  to  pro- 
cure pure,  handsome  country  or  village  girls  for 
sporting  houses  of  our  great  cities.  I  can  not  write 


32  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

this  sketch  without  uttering  a  warning  against  this 
infernal  traffic. 

This  slave-driver,  the  villain  that  he  was,  told 
Orpha  afterward  that  he  would  give  anything  in 
the  world  if  he  had  never  brought  her  to  this  place 
of  shame;  withered,  blighted,  paralyzed  as  his  soul 
was,  it  still  seemed  awful  to  him  to  see  her  in  that 
horrid  bondage  where  her  midnight  cries  were 
never  answered  and  where  there  was  not  a  ray  of 
hope  of  escaping.  How  then,  must  it  seem  to  a 
pure,  sensitive  nature?  When  all  was  lost,  she 
went  lower  and  lower,  smoking  and  drinking  until 
she  was  a  perfect  sot.  From  one  sporting  house  to 
a  lower  class  house  and  to  another  and  another, 
down  and  down  until  she  often  wished  she  was 
dead  and  really  felt  that  hell  could  be  no  worse. 
She  secured  a  revolver  and  was  just  about  to  kill 
herself  when  some  one  learned  of  the  plan  and 
broke  down  the  door  of  her  room  and  took  the  gun 
from  her  just  in  time  to  save  her  life. 

It  was  in  this  forlorn,  hopeless  condition  that  a 
voice  spoke  to  her  in  the  night  and  said,  "  Get  up 
and  pray,  there  is  coming  a  change  in  your  life." 
The  voice  was  so  plain  and  so  oft  repeated  that  she 
obeyed,  and  while  she  did  not  know  how  to  pray  or 
how  to  get  salvation,  from  that  hour  she  was  seized 


ORPHA,  THE  CIGARETTE  FIEND.  33 

with  conviction  and  could  never  get  rid  of  it;  and 
although  she  was  not  converted,  the  conviction  was 
so  strong  that  she  quit  smoking  and  the  desire  for 
cigarettes  was  all  taken  away.  She  told  the  madam 
of  the  house  that  she  could  not  smoke  any  more, 
and  although  she  did  not  quit  sin  and,  of  course, 
was  not  converted,  she  would  weep  by  the  hour 
and  talk  about  Jesus  in  the  brothel  and  many  times 
would  get  down  and  pray  right  among  the  girls 
and  with  the  keeper  of  the  house,  and  they  would 
weep  with  her,  but  they  did  not  know  how  to  get 
saved.  Then  she  would  drink  and  drink  for  weeks 
and  drown  her  conviction  and  as  soon  as  she  would 
sober  off,  she  would  pray  and  weep  and  preach 
Jesus  to  those  in  the  house,  until  the  conviction  was 
so  great  that  they  told  her  she  would  have  to  leave 
if  she  did  not  stop  it,  but  she  could  not  stop  and 
they  could  do  nothing  with  her. 

She  was  arrested  eight  times  in  the  month  of 
April,  and  served  five  weeks  in  the  workhouse  and 
all  this  time  she  was  weeping  and  praying  and 
struggling  to  find  the  light  of  God. 

When  she  heard  music  which  reminded  her  of 
her  mother  and  her  mother's  warnings,  she  would 
weep  and  weep,  and  almost  went  wild.  Again  she 
attempted  suicide,  but  her  plans  were  thwarted, 


34  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  she  was  brought  to  Hope  Cottage,  where  she 
heard  that  Jesus  could  save  her  from  all  sin.  and 
keep  her  true  to  God  always. 

As  soon  as  she  was  told  how,  the  poor,  tired, 
heart-broken  girl  gave  her  heart  to  God,  and  He 
wonderfully  saved  her  from  sin,  and  all  desire  for 
sin.  Her  conversion  was  so  wonderful  that  she 
declared  that  she  was  sanctified  wholly,  and  would 
listen  to  nothing  else,  until  God  showed  her  inbred 
sin,  and  then  she  sought  with  all  her  heart  the 
second  blessing,  and  was  sanctified  wholly.  She 
feels  called  to  do  mission  work  among  those  of 
her  own  kind.  Before  she  was  saved,  she  would 
not  work;  now  she  is  delighted  to  engage  in  hon- 
est labor;  will  wash  and  iron  all  day.  and  give 
of  her  means  to  spread  the  Gospel.  She  says, 
"  I  am  free  from  all  passions  and  sinful  desires: 
I  am  settled  and  esablished,  and  no  one  can 
make  me  doubt  it.  If  all  the  sanctified  people 
were  to  go  back  on  the  Lord,  I  know  He  has 
sanctified  me,  and  I  want  to  do  missionary  work 
for  Him." 

Orpha  has  since  been  ordained  as  a  deaconess, 
and  is  one  among  our  most  successful  mission- 
aries. Again  and  again  she  has  stood  like  a 
princess  in  the  same  court  room,  and  before  the 
same  Judge,  where  her  ragged  form  was  dragged 


ORPHA,  THE  CIGARETTE  FIEND.  35 

from  the  cell  before  the  bench,  morning  after 
morning;  but  now  she  stands  there  dressed  like  a 
Christian  lady,  pleading  for  the  release  of  other 
girls,  and  commanding  the  profoundest  respect  of 
the  court,  and  of  the  officers  who  so  often  secured 
her  arrest.  One  day  she  entered  the  court,  dressed 
in  a  handsome  black  suit,  with  white  collar  and 
cuffs,  as  you  see  her  in  this  picture.  The  judge 
rose  to  his  feet,  invited  her  forward,  and  when 
he  and  the  officers  had  taken  her  by  the  hand  in 
congratulation,  said.  "  Georgia  (for  that  was  her 
sporting  name),  we  are  all  very  glad  indeed  of 
your  reformation."  Immediately  Orpha  turned 
on  him  and  said,  "  Judge,  I  want  you  to  know  it 
is  not  reformation,  but  salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ."  She  has  since  rescued  many  poor  girls, 
among  them  Fannie,  whose  story  is  found  in  this 
book.  She  is  also  the  missionary  referred  to  in 
the  article,  "  Judgment  in  the  Slums."  The  fol- 
lowing is  a  clipping  from  a  newspaper:  — 

BEGS  FOR  CHANCE  TO  REFORM  SHOPLIFTER. 


WOMAN     MISSIONARY,    ONCE    PRISONER    IN     POLICE    STATION, 
PLEADS    TO    SAVE    YOUNG   GIRL. 


CINCINNATI,  JAN.  7. — A  sensation  was  created  in  police 
court  circles  yesterday  by  the  reappearance  of  Georgia 
Kline,  who  came  in  the  interest  of  Lauretta  Daul,  of  Tren- 


36  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ton,  N.  J.,  a  nineteen-year-old  girl,  who  confessed  to  Chief 
Crawford  that  she  had  been  for  months  shoplifting.  A  few 
months  ago  Georgia  Kline  was  a  physical  and  moral  wreck. 
Addicted  to  liquor  and  drugs,  her  ragged  form  was  dragged 
from  the  cell  to  the  rail  before  the  bench,  morning  after  morn- 
ing. Yesterday  her  appearance  was  a  revelation  of  reform. 
Dressed. in  a  handsome  tailor-made  suit  of  broadcloth,  black 
from  toe  to  crown,  and  heavily  veiled,  she  was  a  picture  of 
prosperity  and  decorum.  "  I  am  a  missionary  now,  Judge ; 
let  me  have  that  little  girl ;  let  me  take  her  to  my  new  home, 
and  we,  I  and  those  who  have  helped  me,  will  reform  her." 
Judge  Leuders  promptly  gave  Lauretta  Daul  over  to  the  ap- 
plicant. 

Beloved,  it  is  "  the  gospel  which  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation,"  that  has  done  this.  To 
Him  we  give  all  the  honor  and  glory  forever. 
Beloved,  when  I  know  that  forty-six  thousand  of 
such  girls  are  captured  every  year,  is  it  any  won- 
der that  I  ask  your  prayers,  and  in  every  way  your 
assistance  to  rescue  these  for  the  Lord?  Orpha 
is  a  good  preacher  of  the  Word,  and  a  real  soul 
winner,  as  trusty  and  trusted  as  an  old  veteran 
of  the  Cross.  Her  shining  face  is  a  living  testi- 
mony to  the  power  of  the  gospel,  and  a  constant 
rebuke  to  sin.  Let  all  who  read  these  lines  dis- 
tinctly understand  that  we  are  careful  to  give  all 
the  glory  to  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 
Praise  the  Lord! 


A   NIGHT   IN   "LITTLE    HELL." 

"  LITTLE  HELL  "  is  one  of  the  darkest  sections 
of  Chicago,  North  Side,  and  noted  more  for  mur- 
ders and  robberies  than  for  houses  of  prostitution, 
though  every  conceivable  form  of  sin  abounds 
there.  The  streets  are  narrow,  dark,  filthy,  and 
abound  with  dirty,  ragged  children. 

Just  at  dark  one  wet,  cold  night,  one  of  our 
missionaries  received  a  message  asking  her  to  take 
two  other  missionaries  and  go  to  a  certain  street 
and  number  in  this  benighted  district  to  care  for 
a  man  who  was  dying  with  delirium  tremens. 
They  were  warned  that  it  was  not  at  all  safe  for 
them  to  enter  that  precinct  at  night,  but  feeling 
that  the  Lord  would  have  them  respond  to  the 
call,  without  the  least  hesitation  proceeded  on 
their  journey.  The  rain  was  falling,  the  night 
was  dismal,  and  the  distance  was  several  miles. 
When  they  reached  the  doomed  neighborhood,  a 
horror  of  darkness  and  spiritual  depression  settled 
down  on  their  souls,  and  it  seemed  as  if  brimstone 
was  in  the  air,  and  regiments  of  devils  confronted 
them. 

These  girls,  naturally  as  timid  and  shrinking 
as  children,  pressed  their  way  through  a  long  dark 

37 


38  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

street,  then  turned  into  a  darker,  grimy  lane,  and 
after  a  lengthy  journey,  wet  and  cold,  they  found 
the  slummy  little  house  surrounded  with  dilap- 
idation, presenting  just  such  an  appearance  as  you 
would  expect  to  find  around  a  drunkard's  home. 

They  were  received  by  the  drunkard's  heart- 
broken wife  into  a  little  room,  with  a  bed,  an  old 
lounge,  a  small  table,  and  some  chairs.  The  only 
light  was  by  a  dingy  little  lamp  with  a  smoky 
chimney.  On  the  bed  was  a  man  supposed  to  be 
dying  with  tremens.  For  six  weeks  he  had  not 
slept  an  hour.  His  groans,  screams,  and  delirium 
had  worn  everybody  out  who  had  been  with  him. 
Some  of  his  worthless  neighbors  had  been  in,  but 
would  not  stay.  Money  will  do  almost  anything, 
but  one  thing  it  will  not  do,  it  will  not  hire  peo- 
ple to  stay  and  see  a  man  die  with  delirium  tre- 
mens, and  listen  to  his  unearthly  screams  when 
devils  are  after  him,  and  snakes  crawling  all  over 
him.  No  one  seems  to  want  money  bad  enough 
to  endure  this.  But  the  grace  of  God  will  operate 
when  everything  else  has  failed. 

The  girls  told  the  poor  tired  woman  that  she 
might  go  to  bed;  that  there  were  three  of  them, 
and  they  were  not  afraid,  promising  that  if  he 
grew  worse  they  would  call  her.  Very  soon  the 
man  rose  right  up  in  bed,  as  thin  as  a  ghost.  With 


A  NIGHT  IN   "  LITTLE  HELL."  39 

eyes  like  a  flame  of  fire,  he  screamed,  "Snakes! 
Snakes!  "  Pointing  at  the  wall,  first  in  one  direc- 
tion, then  another,  he  would  cry,  "  Cant  you  see 
the  snakes?  The  room  is  full  of  devils."  The 
missionaries  would  just  cry,  "  Jesus,  Jesus,  blessed 
Jesus! "  and  at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Jesus 
he  would  fall  back  on  his  pillow  and  remain 
quiet  perhaps  two  or  three  minutes,  and  then 
scream  again  as  before.  This  was  repeated  a 
number  of  times.  The  man  was  so  emaciated 
that  he  seemed  only  skin  and  bones,  and  yet  in 
the  strength  of  the  demons  he  would  jump  out 
of  bed,  take  the  lounge  in  his  arms,  and  run  at 
the  missionaries.  They  would  just  fall  on  their 
knees,  and  cry  out,  "  Jesus,  blessed  Jesus,"  and  he 
would  drop  the  lounge  and  get  back  in  bed.  After 
these  awful  scenes  were  repeated  many  times,  the 
missionaries  agreed  about  midnight  that  they 
must  get  down  and  get  complete  victory  for  this 
man.  God  wonderfully  blessed  them  in  prayer, 
and  while  they  were  crying  to  Jesus,  the  devils 
were  all  cast  out,  and  that  satanic  feeling  left  the 
room.  Yes,  the  devils  went  out,  and  the  angels 
came  in,  and  the  glory  of  God  filled  and  lighted 
that  dismal  room.  The  man  began  to  pray  for 
himself,  and  definitely  gave  himself  to  God. 
While  he  was  praying,  he  fell  asleep  with  the 


40  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

name  of  Jesus  on  his  lips,  and  slept  like  a  baby 
for  eight  hours. 

When  that  frantic  lunatic  woke  next  morning, 
he  was  like  a  child,  and  was  blessedly  saved  and 
in  his  right  mind.  O,  glory  to  the  Christ  that  is 
able  to  cast  out  devils  and  heal  the  sick. 

The  missionaries  were  so  blessed  in  their  souls, 
and  lifted  above  this  world,  they  seemed  to  hardly 
touch  the  sidewalks.  As  they  went  home  next 
morning  they  were  so  filled  with  the  glory  of  God 
that  they  stopped  wagons  on  the  street,  and 
preached  Jesus  to  the  drivers.  They  stopped 
men  on  their  way  to  their  work,  and  women  with 
pitchers  or  buckets  of  beer,  and  warned  them  of 
the  coming  judgment,  and  preached  salvation  to 
all.  That  was  once  the  devil  suffered  awful  de- 
feat in  "  Little  Hell." 

When  the  missionaries  returned  a  week  later, 
they  found  the  man  saved  and  healed,  and  look- 
ing for  work.  All  glory  to  Jesus,  at  the  mention 
of  whose  name  the  demons  must  flee. 


DICIE. 


DICIE,    OR    THE    SPORTING    MADAM! 

DlClE  was  a  madam  of  a  well-furnished  house 
of  shame.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  she  was  a 
confirmed  drunkard.  For  six  years  she  was  a 
cigarette  fiend,  using  morphine  and  cocaine,  and 
in  fact  all  the  drugs  commonly  used  by  sporting 
women.  Her  beautiful,  attractive  face  was  bloated 
and  greatly  marred  by  every  abominable  excess. 
If  we  could  show  you  a  picture  of  her  face  as  it 
was  when  she  left  sin,  the  contrast  between  the 
two  portraits  would  appear  very  striking. 

The  slum  missionaries  entered  her  home  and 
were  permitted  to  pray  in  her  house,  and  from 

that  hour  conviction  for  sin  fell  upon  D like 

a  stroke.  She  was  urged  to  give  up  sin,  and  come 
to  Rest  Cottage,  but  was  so  firmly  held  in  the 
mighty  grip  of  appetite,  passion,  and  habit  that 
release  seemed  impossible.  Some  time  later  she 
'came  to  the  Home  just  for  a  day  to  look  it  over 
and  see  what  the  matron  and  missionaries  were 
like.  The  saints  wept,  prayed,  and  pleaded  with 
her,  but  she  returned  to  her  place  of  shame  at 
night. 

A  few  weeks  later  she  came  to  the  matron  and 
said,  "  I  am  so  tired  and  sick  of  sin.  I  want  to 

43 


44  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

break  up  my  house,  bring  part  of  my  furnishings 
to  Rest  Cottage,  give  my  heart  to  God,  and  if  pos- 
sible, find  salvation  from  sin." 

After  a  few  days  in  the  Home,  much  of  her  time 
spent  in  seeking  God,  she  felt  that  before  He 
would  save  her  soul,  she  must  apologize  to  a  man 
in  the  slums,  whom  I  have  no  doubt  was  many 
times  worse  than  herself;  but  she  felt  that  she  had 
wronged  him,  and  must  make  it  right.  She  was 
not  willing  to  trust  herself  down  in  town  alone, 
so  asked  the  matron  if  she  could  not  send  a  mis- 
sionary with  her.  The  missionaries  were  all  busy. 
The  matron  said,  "  I  will  send  Anna  with  you." 
Anna  was  pne  of  the  inmates  of  the  Home,  who 
had  been  rescued,  and  so  wonderfully  saved  that 
she  was  very  trusty.  D—  -  had  been  used  to  the 
protection  of  a  revolver,  but  instead  they  each  took 
a  Bible  under  their  arms  as  a  sort  of  testimony, 
as  well  as  protection  from  sin. 

When  she  had  seen  the  villain,  and  told  him 
she  had  quit  sin,  broken  up  her  house,  and  was 
seeking  God,  she  exhorted  him  to  do  the  same. 
When  she  had  finished  her  errand  and  reached 
the  street,  she  said  to  Anna,  "  There  is  a  certain 
bartender  in  a  saloon  down  here  that  I  feel  that 
I  should  speak  to." 

They  entered  the  saloon,  and  after  informing 


DICIE,  OR  THE  SPORTING  MADAM!  45 

him  what  she  had  done,  she  stood  in  that  dirty 
saloon  and  preached  Jesus  to  that  bartender  till 
he  was  put  under  the  direst  conviction.  She  was 
not  yet  converted  herself,  but  warned  him  of  a 
coming  judgment,  and  exhorted  him  to  come  to 
God.  She  finally  insisted  that  he  should  get  down 
on  his  knees  and  she  would  pray  with  him  on  that 
saloon  floor.  She  had  not  only  given  up  sin,  but 
had  more  concern  for  lost  souls  before  she  was 
converted  at  all  than  most  of  professing  Christians 
have  ever  known. 

The  bartender  insisted  that  it  was  hardly  the 
proper  place  to  pray.  His  customers  were  com- 
ing and  going,  and  greatly  embarrassed,  he  ex- 
cused himself,  taking  from  her  a  mission  card, 
and  promised  that  he  would  come  down  to  the 
mission.  Soon  after  the  girls  returned  to  the 
home,  the  physical  and  mental  reaction  set  in  with 
poor  D—  — .  The  sudden  abandonment  of  all 
drugs  and  nicotine  proved  too  great  a  shock  to 
her  system,  and  she  was  thrown  into  temporary 
insanity.  This  was  an  awful  blow  to  us  all.  For 
days  the  matron  was  forced  to  hide  every  knife, 
and  the  scissors,  and  watch  her  day  and  night. 
She  would  crawl  through  the  coal  scuttle  in  the 
basement,  or  in  any  way  steal  out  and  roll  in  the 
snow  drifts  to  quench  the  burning  thirst  for  strong 


46  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

drinks  and  cigarettes.  She  finally  became  so  dan- 
gerously violent  that  it  looked  as  if  she  would 
break  up  the  Home.  But  the  matron  refused  to 
turn  her  over  to  the  authorities,  who  would  have 
taken  her  to  a  padded  cell.  They  fasted,  prayed, 
and  wept  before  God  until  the  drug  and  tobacco 
devils  were  cast  out  of  her,  as  really  as  they  were 
in  Bible  times,  and  the  dear  girl  was  clothed  and 
in  her  right  mind.  Oh,  it  was  simply  wonderful, 
beyond  all  description. 

We  soon  learned  that  she  had  a  mother  living 
in  a  distant  state,  a  beautiful  Christian,  who  on 
learning  of  the  situation,  promptly  came  to  Chi- 
cago. D 's  wonderful  deliverance  was  before 

her  mother  reached  us,  and  from  the  hour  of  her 
deliverance  to  this  day  she  has  never  shown  a  trace 
of  her  insanity.  Who  can  imagine  the  inexpres- 
sible joy  of  a  Christian  mother  on  the  occasion 
of  the  return  of  such  a  prodigal  daughter?  They 
are  living  happily  together  in  her  mother's  home, 
and  D—  -  is  a  missionary  of  the  Cross,  seeking 
lost  souls  in  the  slums  of  her  own  city.  Let  every- 
thing that  hath  breath  praise  the  Lord! 


"A    SLUMMY   SLUM." 

IT  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  those  living  in 
rural  districts  to  credit  any  statement  that  approx- 
imates a  fair  description  of  the  real  condition 
of  the  "  slummiest  slums  "  of  our  largest  cqnters 
of  population.  We  will  not  soon  forget  ourselves 
how  we  were  appalled  when  we  first  came  in  touch 
with  a  solid  block  of  sin,  squalor,  and  crime,  one- 
half  mile  square,  located  in  the  heart  of  a  city  of 
two  million  people. 

It  is  safe,  I  think,  to  say  it  is  a  cube  of  sin,  for 
certainly  the  infernal  fumes  from  two  hundred 
and  forty-one  saloons,  besides  brothels,  dance 
halls,  and  low-grade  theaters  reach  more  than  half 
a  mile  high.  This  dreadful  precinct  of  sin,  crime, 
and  vice  is  without  the  restraint  even  of  churches 
or  Sunday-schools,  and  is  a  law  unto  itself.  A 
stranger  should  cease  to  place  any  value  upon  his 
own  life  before  he  passes  through  some  of  the 
streets  at  high  noon. 

In  this  accompanying  picture  you  have  a  view 
down  through  Custom  House  Place,  where  for 
block  after  block  every  single  house  on  both  sides 
of  the  street  is  a  house  of  shame.  It  looks  very 
quiet  in  the  picture,  but  if  you  could  see  it  at 
4  49 


50  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

midnight,  it  is  filled  with  activity  and  the  most 
glaring  sin  and  atrocious  crime. 

On  the  following  page  is  the  picture  of  a  single 
house  occupied  by  ninety  families,  and  but  one 
of  them  known  to  be  married.  Whites  and  blacks 
promiscuously  raising  families  without  marriage. 
This' is  given  as  a  testimony  of  the  janitor  of  the 
building.  What  a  field  for  mission  work!  Pray 
ye  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send  forth  more 
laborers  into  the  vineyard.  The  gospel  of  Christ 
would  transform  this  veritable  hell  into  an  Eden 
of  grace,  and  fill  it  with  flowers,  smiles,  sunshine, 
and  purity. 


MARGARET. 


MARGARET,  THE  BARREL-HOUSE 
SPORT. 

MARGARET ,  of  Canadian  birth,  came  of 

godly  ancestors.  She  was  born  on  Owens'  Sound, 
Ontario.  Her  father,  an  intelligent  man,  broke 
away  from  his  religious  training,  and  became  a 
brute  through  strong  drink.  His  devoted  wife 
became  discouraged,  and  entirely  disheartened, 
and  poor  M —  -  grew  wilful  and  disobedient. 
She  had  a  great  love  for  books,  and  for  a  time  did 
good  wrork  in  school.  Her  father,  who  was  nearly 
always  drunk,  determined  to  keep  her  from  secur- 
ing an  education,  and  at  an  early  age,  she  was 
forced  to  go  out  as  a  servant,  in  a  private  family. 

She  gave  good  satisfaction,  and  a  lady  in  Sault 
Ste.  Marie  testifies  that  she  never  had  a  better 
girl;  but,  alas!  one  of  the  devil's  many  agents  won 
the  confidence  of  this  beautiful,  artless  girl,  and 
allured  her  to  the  outskirts,  and  when  he  could 
accomplish  his  fiendish  purpose  in  no  other  way, 
drugged,  and  robbed  her  of  her  womanhood. 
Margaret  was  never  strong  from  a  child,  and  now- 
thinking  she  had  committed  the  unpardonable 
sin,  became  heart-broken  and  miserable  beyond 
description.  When  she  returned  home,  it  was « >nly 

55 


56  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

to  be  turned  out  in  the  cold  and  darkness  by  a 
drunken  father. 

How  distressingly  dark  is  the  night  when  a 
ruined,  heart-broken  girl  is  thrust  out  and  cast  off 
by  those  who  should  guard  and  protect  her! 
There  was  no  beacon  light  in  any  direction.  It 
was  during  that  starless  night  of  unbearable 
darkness,  that  a  seemingly  kind-hearted  woman 
proposed  that  Margaret  go  with  her  where  she 
could  have  a  fine  time  and  support  herself  with- 
out work.  The  unsuspecting  girl  so  sorely  in 
need  of  sympathy  and  kindness,  was  induced  to 
go  with  the  woman  for  a  ride.  That  proved  to  be 
a  long  ride.  The  decline  was  alarmingly  rapid 
The  whirling  wheels  of  that  black  chariot  carried 
her  over  declivities,  rugged  ways,  and  awful  prec- 
ipices, almost  to  the  very  gates  of  death  and  end- 
less night.  To  poor  Margaret  it  was  like  a  stage 
driver  going  down  the  mountain,  unable  to  get 
his  foot  on  the  brake.  When  she  called  a  halt, 
there  was  nothing  before  her  but  the  morgue,  the 
potter's  field,  a  nameless  grave,  and  a  Christless 
hell. 

The  first  glass  of  strong  drink  proved  that  she 
had  inherited  her  father's  appetite  for  rum,  and 
she  was  soon  entirely  beyond  self-control.  By  the 
use  of  strong  drink  and  cigarettes,  she  made  a  vig- 


MARGARET,  THE  BARREL- HOUSE  SPORT.         57 

orous  effort  to  stifle  her  conscience,  never  wholly 
at  ease.  The  first  few  times  she  was  led  into  sa- 
loons she  called  for  "  soft  drinks,"  and  the  bar- 
tender, a  demon  in  human  clothes,  would  say, 
"  You  are  no  good  if  you  can't  drink  whisky." 
The  devil  rose  up  in  her,  and  she  said,  "  I  will 
not  be  behind  my  companions." 

She  fell  to  hard  drinking,  and  for  months  was 
intoxicated  day  and  night,  never  sober  except  when 
in  jail.  She  said,  "At  first  I  would  have  times  of 
feeling  awfully  bad  about  my  life  of  sin,  but  I 
soon  got  so  I  did  not  care." 

When  in  jail  she  was  under  awful  conviction, 
but  did  not  know  what  was  the  matter,  or  that 
there  was  a  remedy.  It  was  while  she  was  in 
prison  that  she  made  up  her  mind  to  try  and  do 
better.  Some  one  gave  her  a  Bible  and  a  hymn 
book,  and  she  attempted  to  read  the  Bible,  but 
the  other  prisoners  would  make  all  manner  of 
sport  of  her;  they  would  throw  pillows,  cups,  or 
anything  at  her  so  that  she  could  not  read.  She 
even  asked  the  turnkey  to  put  her  in  a  cell  alone 
where  she  could  read  her  Bible,  but  no  one  could 
tell  her  the  way  of  salvation.  After  she  might 
have  been  released,  she  was  held  in  the  witness- 
cell  for  twenty-three  days  as  a  witness  against  a 
man  who  kept  a  house  of  shame. 


5»  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

She  had  become  such  a  vicious  character  thai 
in  a  drunken  row  with  a  man  who  drew  a  knife 
upon  her,  she  in  turn  took  a  bottle,  conquered 
him,  and  took  the  knife  from  him.  You  could 
hardly  believe  it,  for  she  is  one  of  the  most  timid, 
modest,  reticent  girls  we  have  ever  had  in  the 
Home,  but  it  was  the  whisky  devil  that  possessed 
her.  Her  career  in  dissipation  was  comparatively 
short,  but  she  went  with  such  a  whirl  that  the 
last  six  months  of  her  life  of  sin  was  almost 
without  a  sober  breath.  She  was  among  that 
lowest  class  that  lounges  about  saloons  and  barrel 
houses  of  the  lowest  kind. 

A  self-denying  missionary  found  her  in  jail; 
and  she  was  soon  weeping  over  her  sins,  and 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  missionary  she 
was  led  to  Christ  there  in  prison,  but  she  was 
held  several  weeks,  together  with  a  number  of 
more  hardened  prisoners  through  whose  influence 
she  lost  her  hope.  After  she  was  released  from 
prison,  the  missionary  came  with  her  to  Rest 
Cottage  in  Chicago,  a  distance  of  nearly  six  hun- 
dred miles. 

Here  Margaret  wept  her  way  back  to  the  Cross, 
but  so  terrible  were  her  appetites  and  passions  for 
sin,  that  twice  she  broke  away  and  went  down, 
but  she  was  followed  by  many  prayers  and  tears, 


MARGARET,  THE  BARREL-HOUSE  SPORT.         59 

and  one  morning  when  one  of  our  missionaries 
entered  the  police  court  in  pursuit  of  another  girl, 
poor  Margaret  sprang  into  her  arms  and  said, 
"  Sister  Freeman,  I  have  been  arrested." 

She  had  drifted  into  a  very  low  house,  and  the 
house  had  been  raided  by  the  officers,  and  the 
madam  and  all  the  girls  had  been  arrested.  The 
missionary  sat  down  by  her  during  the  session  of 
the  court.  When  sentence  was  passed,  an  old 
woman,  the  mother  of  the  madam,  stepped  up  and 
paid  the  fines  for  all  of  them.  When  court  had 
adjourned  and  almost  all  had  left  the  court  room, 
the  woman  who  paid  the  bill,  which  was  only  a 
dollar  a  head,  together  with  the  madam,  stepped 
up  to  Margaret  and  said,  "  Come  on  now,  we  have 
paid  your  fine;  you  must  go  with  us." 

The  missionary  said,  "  No,  Margaret,  you  don't 
have  to  go  with  them;  you  can  go  with  me  to 
Rest  Cottage,  if  you  like."  The  old  woman, 
possessed  with  the  devil  and  filled  with  rage, 
shook  her  fist  in  the  missionary's  face,  and  used 
language  most  unbecoming;  her  attitude  was  not 
only  vicious,  but  apparently  dangerous.  But  the 
missionary  held  her  ground,  and  stood  firmly  at 
her  post.  Presently  an  officer  came  in,  and 
demanded  an  explanation  of  the  disturbance. 
When  informed  of  the  situation  he  turned  to  the 


6o  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

madam  and  her  mother  and  said.  "  Get  out  of 
here,  every  one  of  you,  or  I  will  have  you  arrested 
again  in  five  minutes."  They  lost  no  time  in  dis- 
appearing, and  Margaret  was  again  brought  to 
Rest  Cottage. 

She  very  soon  returned  to  the  Lord,  and  found 
an  establishment  in  grace  that  she  had  never 
known.  For  more  than  a  year  she  has  been  a 
successful  missionary,  testifying  to  the  power  of 
Christ  to  save,  leading  public  meetings,  and  turn- 
ing men  and  women  to  God.  When  she  stands  in 
the  jail  and  relates  to  the  prisoners  the  story  of 
her  redemption,  their  hardened  hearts  are  broken 
to  pieces.  She  has  many  strong  and  faithful 
friends,  and  is  leading  a  pure  and  beautiful  life. 
Again  we  are  made  to  exclaim,  "  I  am  not 
ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  for  it  is  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that 
believeth."  To  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost, 
be  all  the  glory  forever! 

"  The  day  will  soon  be  over, 

When  digging  will  be  done  — 
With  no  more  Gems  to  gather, 

So  let  us  still  press  on. 
When  Jesus  comes  to  call  us, 

And  says  it  is  enough, 
The  rough  ones  will  be  shining,, 

No  longer  in  the  rough." 


"AMONG   THE   TOMBS." 

IT  was  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon  that  we  entered 
the  famous  Harrison  Street  Police  Prison,  to  find 
about  seventy  prisoners,  male  and  female,  who 
were  most  of  them  arrested  Saturday  night,  and 
thrown  into  jail  to  spend  the  Lord's  day.  The 
cells  are  in  the  basement,  with  but  little  light  or 
ventilation,  presenting  the  most  forlorn  and  dis- 
mal spectacle  I  have  ever  found  in  any  jail.  The 
cells  are  about  six  by  ten  feet  in  size,  furnished 
with  absolutely  nothing  except  a  wooden  bench 
on  one  side  running  the  length  of  the  cell.  In  one 
cell  of  this  size  there  were  eight  men  and  boys, 
in  another  seven,  and  in  another  six,  etc.  An 
inmate  in  the  cell  where  there  were  six,  told  us 
there  had  been  eight  in  their  cell. 

Now  two  of  these  might  manage  in  some  sort  of 
way  to  lie  on  that  bench,  but  the  other  six  must 
either  stand  for  two  nights  and  a  day,  or  lie  on 
that  filthy  stone  floor.  The  only  sanitary  accom- 
modations is  a  stream  of  water  running  through 
an  open  groove  in  the  stone  floor,  across  ;the 
rear  end  of  the  cells.  The  odor  was  stifling,  and 
the  vermin  and  squalor  \ve  do  not  care  to  describe. 
The  prisoners'  diet  consists  of  bread  and  water; 

61 


62  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

the  bread  is  served  by  placing  a  loaf  the  right 
size  to  fit  tight  between  the  bars.  The  water  is 
in  an  old  wooden  pail,  and  sits  on  the  corridor 
floor  just  outside  the  cell.  When  the  prisoner 
wants  water,  he  has  an  old  rusty,  oblong,  tin  cup 
which  he  can  slip  between  the  bars  and  reach  the 
water  in  the  pail.  I  am  told  that  the  great  Nor- 
way rats  drink  out  of  the  same  pail  of  water,  and 
eat  off  the  same  loaf  of  bread  with  the  prisoners. 

Here  we  found  heart-broken  boys  in  the  same 
cells  with  hardened  criminals.  Here  was  just  a 
child,  the  only  support  of  his  widowed  mother  — 
she  standing  outside  the  iron  gate,  convulsed  with 
sorrow,  and  the  heart-broken  boy  inside  sobbing 
himself  sick.  He  had  been  accused  of  carrying 
away  a  piece  of  brass  from  the  foundry  where 
he  worked,  but  there  was  no  brass  in  his  inno- 
cent look,  and  no  trace  of  crime  in  his  childish 
face. 

We  felt  that  some  of  the  officers  beat  the 
drunken,  almost  delirious  prisoners  unmercifully. 
An  officer  entered  a  cell  and  knocked  a  man 
down  with  his  club,  while  we  were  standing  at  the 
cell  door  holding  religious  service. 

It  was  wonderful  how  the  power  of  God  fell 
upon  the  place  as  we  preached  Jesus  to  those 
poor  unfortunate  creatures.  In  one  ward  there 


AMONG  THE  TOMBS.  63 

were  perhaps  twenty  young  men,  who  at  first 
seemed  hard  and  defiant,  but  their  hearts  melted, 
and  they  wept  like  rain  as  they  all  fell  on  their 
knees  in  prayer.  Some  of  them  professed  that 
day  to  find  Christ  as  their  Saviour  from  sin.  One 
beautiful  girl  seemed  to  receive  the  clear  witness 
to  salvation. 

If  the  Christ  of  Calvary  would  walk  through 
those  dingy  corridors,  enter  those  grimy  cells,  and 
transform  the  lives  of  such  unfortunate  inmates, 
certainly  there  are  no  sinks  or  haunts  of  vice, 
where  the  power  of  the  gospel  is  not  able  to  save. 


HALLIE. 


AN  ARTLESS  GIRL. 

HALLIE'S  parents  died  when  she  was  small. 
No  friendly  hand  was  offered  her,  and  the  poor 
child  was  thrown  out  into  this  cold  world  to  be 
tossed  about  and  to  make  her  own  way.  It  is  not 
easy  for  a  friendless,  homeless  child  to  stem  the 
rising  tides  of  sin,  beat  back  the  billows  of  temp- 
tation, and  ride  on  in  purity  with  unsullied  gar- 
ments. 

The  child  was  taking  the  cows  to  pasture,  when 
a  married  man,  and  a  church  member,  captured 
and  ruined  her.  There  seemed  to  be  no  one  to 
care;  she  had  never  had  a  mother  to  teach  her 
the  true  sacredness  of  womanhood,  and  in  her 
artlessness  and  innocence,  she  was  an  easy  prey 
to  this  beast  of  the  field. 

When  a  girl  has  fallen,  the  devil  almost  invari- 
ably says  to  her,  "  Well,  you  know  you  are  ruined; 
everybody  will  cast  you  off;  you  will  be  kicked 
out  of  society;  your  name  is  tarnished,  and  no 
body  will  care;  you  had  just  as  well  go  into  sin, 
and  get  all  out  of  life  you  can."  Poor  Hallie,  like 
a  crippled  lamb  among  a  pack  of  wolves,  with 
aching  head  and  breaking  heart,  yields  to  the 
snare  of  the  devil  in  human  form. 

5  65 


66  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Living  in  a  Virginia  country  village,  she  did 
not  know  the  practices  of  sin  as  carried  on  in  the 
great  centers  of  vice.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  she 
made  a  vigorous  effort  to  get  saved  and  longed 
to  live  a  good  life,  but  she  knew  nothing  of  the 
way  of  salvation,  and  every  effort  on  the  part  of 
others  was  to  drag  her  down.  If  it  had  been  a 
horse  or  a  mule  that  had  fallen,  they  would  have 
been  given  another  chance,  but  there  was  no  one 
to  help  her  to  her  feet.  She  had  never  heard  a 
real  gospel  sermon  in  her  life  till  she  came  to 
the  Rescue  Home,  and  the  first  time  the  poor 
girl  was  told  that  God  loved  her,  it  broke  her 
heart.  She  very  soon  sought  and  found  Christ 
in  His  great  Salvation. 

Beloved,  do  you  imagine  that  our  joy  is  small 
when  the  Lord  permits  us  to  give  these  friendless 
girls  the  gospel  the  first  time  they  have  heard  the 
real  truth?  Can  you  imagine  the  inexpressible 
pleasure  it  is  to  see  them  embrace  Christ  and 
devour  the  truth  as  fast  as  it  can  be  given  to 
them?  Many  of  these  dear  girls  are  not  only 
beautiful,  but  smart  and  intelligent;  and  after 
they  are  saved  become  so  polished  and  refined  in 
both  manners  and  appearance  that  you  would 
never  think  for  a  moment  that  they  had  ever 
known  sin. 


AN  ARTLESS  GIRL.  67 

Hallie  is  of  a  most  beautiful,  modest  Christian 
spirit.  She  is  an  example  to  all  around  her.  Some 
time  since  when  she  was  on  her  knees  scrubbing 
the  kitchen  floor,  and  at  the  same  time  praying 
and  praising  God  for  what  He  had  done  for  hen 
she  raised  up,  sat  back  on  the  floor,  and  received 
her  call  to  be  a  missionary.  It  was  an  appro- 
priate place  for  her  to  receive  the  call,  for  mis- 
sionaries find  much  scrubbing  to  do.  May  the 
blessed  Holy  Ghost  qualify,  and  send  her  forth 
as  a  flaming  herald  of  the  same  wonderful  gospel 
which  has  so  gloriously  saved  her.  Reader,  can 
she  have  your  sympathy  and  prayers? 

To  the  Lord  be  all  the  glory. 


FROM  AN  ATTIC  TO  A  MANSION. 

A  SLUM  missionary  turned  into  a  certain  street 
in  Chicago,  then  through  a  narrow  passageway 
to  outside  stairs,  which  led  her  up  to  a  low, 
studded,  dingy  attic,  where  a  young  widow  was 
lying  on  her  deathbed.  Her  four  little  children 
and  her  aged  mother  all  slept  in  that  one  little 
room.  She  was  dying  with  cancer,  without  God, 
and  without  hope.  They  were  destitute  of  food, 
only  as  it  was  carried  to  them. 

Since  the  death  of  her  husband,  two  years 
before,  she  had  left  the  little  ones  through  the  day 
with  their  old  grandmother,  and  she  had  earned 
their  meager  support  with  her  needle  in  a  "  sweat 
shop."  The  washing,  ironing,  and  sewing  for 
her  own  family  of  six,  she  would  do  during  the 
night,  while  her  babies  were  asleep,  and  when  her 
weary  body  should  have  rested.  This  she  kept 
up  till  she  was  forced  to  take  her  bed.  Then 
with  no  means  of  support,  she  had  "  rifled  "  away 
her  husband's  watch  to  get  bread,  and  had  dis- 
posed of  all  that  was  marketable.  The  wolf  had 
entered  the  house,  and  Death  was  just  outside  the 
door. 

She  had  been  confined  to  her  room  about  a 

69 


70  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

month  before  the  missionary  found  her  way  up 
those  narrow  stairs.  Food,  flowers,  kind  words, 
and  sunshine  were  poured  into  those  cheerless 
rooms,  and  on  the  missionary's  third  visit,  the 
poor  woman  was  gloriously  converted  to  Christ. 
God  gave  her  the  unmistakeable  witness  that  her 
sins  were  all  forgiven,  and  her  name  was  written 
in  the  Book  of  Life.  The  glory  of  God  filled  the 
attic,  and  the  radiance  of  heaven  was  on  the  sick 
woman's  face.  How  everything  was  changed  in 
those  dingy  quarters!  The  thing  she  had  most 
dreaded  was  to  leave  her  darlings  in  this  cold, 
friendless  world,  with  no  relatives  who  would 
take  interest  in  them;  but  now  she  calmly  com- 
mitted them  to  Jasus,  and  felt  assured  that  He 
would  care  for  them.  From  that  hour  she  was 
unspeakably  happy,  and  a  few  hours  later  she 
passed  triumphantly  through  the  "  Gates  of 
Pearl." 

Two  of  our  missionaries  were  present  at  that 
midnight  hour,  when  the  angels  climbed  those 
stairs,  and  carried  her  blood-washed  spirit  from 
a  stuffy  little  attic  to  a  mansion  in  the  skies.  While 
she  was  dying,  the  missionaries  fell  on  their  knees, 
and  just  before  she  breathed  her  life  out",  her  old 
mother  gave  her  heart  to  God,  and  was  blessedly 
saved. 


FROM  AN  ATTIC  TO  A   MANSION.  71 

That  was  a  strange  scene  of  mingled  joy  and 
sorrow.  The  little  eight-year-old  sat  through 
those  dark  hours  of  the  night  and  watched  her 
mother  die,  and  then  got  down  on  her  knees  and 
gave  her  own  heart  to  God.  That  was  a  striking 
midnight  scene  in  town.  Chicago  was  as  quiet 
as  she  ever  gets,  but  there  was  a  great  jubilee  on 
high. 

When  the  children  who  were  sleeping  in  the 
little  bed  were  aroused  and  moved  out  into  the 
little  kitchen,  the  three-year-old  said,  "  I  want  my 
mamma  —  I  want  my  mamma;"  then  the  others 
took  it  up,  and  such  a  wailing  and  weeping  for 
mamma  has  seldom  ever  been  witnessed.  It  was 
most  pathetic,  and  even  heart-rending.  Four  of 
the  slum  missionaries,  all  ladies,  were  the  pall- 
bearers, and  the  funeral  was  most  beautiful. 
What  a  transformation!  What  a  transportation! 
How  transcendently  glorious! 

But  what  if  there  had  been  no  missionaries,  or, 
what  if  they  had  not  found  her?  "  Pray  ye  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  to  send  forth  more  laborers 
into  the  harvest." 


Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord: 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as 
snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool.  Isa.  i :  18. 


FROM  A  SALOON  TO  HELL. 

A  BRIGHT,  intelligent  girl  listened  attentively 
to  the  gospel  at  one  of  our  Sunday  night  street 
meetings  in  the  slums.  Her  face  indicated  that 
she  belonged  to  good  society,  but  her  clothes 
revealed  that  all  was  lost,  and  that  she  was  ?. 
victim  of  the  slums. 

At  the  close  of  the  service  she  asked  one  of  the 
missionaries  if  she  could  have  a  private  interview 
with  her  about  her  soul.  She  was  told  about  Rest 
Cottage,  and  invited  to  come  at  once,  to  which, 
she  replied,  "  If  I  go,  you  must  first  go  with  me 
for  my  jacket." 

Several  of  the  missionaries  went  with  her.  She 
led  them  into  an  alley  dark  enough  to  make  one's 
flesh  crawl.  They  instinctively  drew  near  to  each 
other  as  they  groped  their  wray  through  the  rayless 
narrow  pass.  Finally  they  reached  the  dismal 
den;  a  place  about  seven  by  ten  feet,  and  not 
suitable  for  dogs  to  live  in.  The  room  contained 
a  bed,  chair  frame,  with  bottom  out,  an  old  broken 
cook  stove,  and  a  dingy  lamp  on  a  shelf.  On  the 
bed  was  an  old  negro  man,  and  standing  in  the 
center  of  the  room  was  a  white  American  woman, 
whose  very  appearance  showed  that  she  was  once 

73 


74  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

a  lady,  but  sin  had  done  its  worst,  and  there  was 
nothing  left  but  the  shadow  of  the  past. 

Maggie  said  to  the  woman,  "  I  am  tired  of  sin, 
and  I  am  going  with  these  missionaries,"  and 
asked  her  to  go  also,  but  she  declined.  From 
there  she  led  them  to  another  house  to  get  her 
hat,  as  she  was  bareheaded.  After  climbing  two 
flights  of  filthy  stairs,  they  entered  a  room  where 
the  tobacco  smoke  was  so  dense  that  at  first  they 
could  hardly  distinguish  a  man  from  a  woman. 
In  this  dismal  haunt  there  proved  to  be  one 
woman,  and  four  men.  Some  of  them  white  (?), 
and  some  of  them  negroes. 

Here  Maggie  repeated  what  she  had  said  in 
the  other  dive.  It  was  not  long  till  she  was  com- 
fortably situated  in  Rest  Cottage.  There  has 
never  been  a  more  modest,  humble,  reserved 
lovable  girl  in  the  Home  than  was  Maggie.  Her 
bearing  and  deportment  was  that  of  a  lady  in 
every  respect.  She  was  a  high-school  graduate, 
and  a  niece  of  a  United  States  Senator,  but  the 
leprosy  of  sin  had  devoured  her  womanhood,  and 
the  power  of  appetite,  passion,  and  habit  had 
dragged  her  down  to  the  level  of  negro  brutes. 

Think  of  her  on  commencement  day,  in  her 
beautiful  graduating  suit,  covered  all  over  with 
beautiful  bouquets,  thrown  at  her  by  a  large  circle 


FROM  A  SALOON  TO  HELL.  75 

of  admiring  friends  and  relatives!  Then  think 
of  her  in  the  crime  and  squalor  of  a  negro  brothel. 
"  How  are  the  '  beautiful '  fallen!  " 

"  Once  she  was  pure  as  the  snow,  but  she  fell, 
Fell  like  the  snowflakes  from  heaven  to  hell ; 
Fell  to  be  tramped  like  the  filth  of  the  street ; 
Fell  to  be  scoffed,  to  be  spit  on  and  beat. 
Pleading,  cursing,  dreading  to  die, 
Selling  her  soul  to  whoever  may  buy. 
Dealing  in  shame  for  a  morsel  of  bread, 
Hating  the  living,  yet  fearing  the  dead. 
Merciful  God !  has  she  fallen  so  low  ? 
And  yet  she  was  once  like  the  beautiful  snow. 

Once  she  was  fair  as  the  beautiful  snow ; 

Eyes  like  its  crystals  —  a  heart  like  its  glow ; 

Once  she  was  loved  for  her  innocent  grace, 

Flattered  and  sought  for  the  charm  of  her  face. 

Father,  mother,  sisters  and  all, 

God  and  herself  she  has  lost  by  her  fall. 

Wickedest  wretch  that  goes  shivering  by, 

Takes  a  wide  sweep  lest  she  wander  too  nigh ; 

All  of  her  vileness  we  read  and  we  know,- 

There's  naught  that  is  pure  but  the  beautiful  snow." 

She  came  to  the  Home  expressly  for  salvation, 
and  made  a  determined,  desperate  fight  to  conquer 
her  appetite  for  strong  drink,  but  the  smoldering 
fires  of  rum  would  break  out  again  and  again, 


76  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  perhaps  while  preparing  a  meal,  she  would 
suddenly  rush  to  the  matron  and  say,  "  Oh,  I  want 
to  go  out  and  get  a  drink.  I  am  burning  up 
inside." 

On  one  of  these  occasions  they  fell  on  their 
knees,  and  although  the  very  atmosphere  seemed 
charged  with  the  power  of  hell,  they  cried  to 
God  for  deliverance  till  the  answer  came.  When 
Maggie  attempted  to  pray,  it  was  more  like  the 
screech  of  an  animal  than  a  human  voice.  Con- 
vulsed with  the  raging  appetite  for  drink,  she 
fought  her  way  through  a  regiment  of  devils, 
and  touched  God  for  deliverance. 

For  a  time  she  seemed  to  walk  in  great  victory, 
but  later,  circumstances  arose  which  divulged  her 
association  with  a  negro  man.  The  humiliation 
seemed  too  great,  and  she  broke  away,  and  took 
to  drink. 

This  was  the  chance  of  her  life  to  confess  all 
and  get  right  with  God,  but  she  stifled  her  con- 
victions, and  forever  lost  her  opportunity.  Sins 
confessed,  are  forgiven  and  forgotten;  but  sins 
covered,  never  die,  but  will  dog  your  steps  till 
the  day  of  your  death,  take  you  by  the  throat 
when  you  are  dying,  and  lock  you  up  in  hell  when 
you  are  dead.  Poor  Maggie  had  her  last  chance. 


FROM  A  SALOON  TO  HELL.  77 

It  was  not  long  till  her  brains  were  dashed  out  by 
a  negro  man  in  a  saloon.  Her  brains  were 
shoveled  up  off  that  floor  like  so  much  sawdust; 
her  body  sent  to  the  morgue,  and  a  nameless  grave 
in  the  potter's  field,  and  her  soul  to  hell. 


A    DUMMY    BUM. 


A  BUMMY  BUM. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  challenges  all  skep- 
ticism and  unbelief  a?  to  the  power  of  the  gospel 
to  renew  and  reconstruct  the  most  wrecked  and 
ruined  life  and  furnishes  a  marvelous  example  of 
how  broken  and  scattered  homes  may  be  made 
whole,  and  blasted  hopes  may  be  restored. 

Reared  among  the  hills  of  southern  Ohio  in  a 
religious  home  where  there  was  no  salvation,  he 
formed  a  strong  disrelish  for  a  mere  form  or 
empty  profession  of  religion.  He  was  often 
under  direst  conviction  for  sin,  but  there  was  no 
one  to  tell  him  the  way  of  real  salvation.  His 
childish  heart  often  longed  for  deliverance.  He 
wept  and  sobbed  many  a  lone  hour,  but  no  one 
ever  told  him  how  to  get  rid  of  sin. 

At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  left  home  and  started 
out  to  see  this  great  lost  world.  He  had  no 
difficulty  in  finding  it,  but  it  was  all  so  cold  his 
young  heart  hardened  and  his  feet  took  hold  of 
the  ways  of  death.  When  a  young  man  starts 
down,  he  finds  many  to  push  him  lower,  but  very 
few  are  ready  to  help  him  on  his  feet  again.  He 
sank  lower  and  lower  in  sin  until  life  was  a  great 
burden.  Many  times  he  stood  on  the  border  of 

79 


8o  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

eternity  with  nothing  in  the  world  to  hold  him 
back  from  suicide  but  the  fear  of  hell. 

After  years  of  wandering  and  dissipation  in 
drunkenness  and  revelry,  God  made  a  vigorous 
attempt  to  turn  him  back  from  this  awful  life  by 
the  death  of  his  father.  Over  the  casket  he 
promised  God  with  tears  that  he  would  turn  and 
be  a  better  man,  but  before  the  day  was  ended  he 
was  trying  to  drink  consolation  from  a  jug  of 
whisky.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to  keep  his 
vows,  he  was  bound  with  fetters  of  strong  drink 
until  there  was  no  earthly  power  that  could  free 
him. 

A  second  time  God  warned  him  by  the  death 
of  his  precious  little  boy.  He  says,  "As  the  frozen 
clods  covered  the  baby  casket  from  my  view  once 
more  God's  Spirit  pleaded  with  me  and  again  I 
said,  '  I  will  be  a  better  man.'  But  the  chains  of 
sin  bound  me  and  there  was  no  power  that  could 
break  them,  it  was  impossible.  Within  fourteen 
hours  after  the  funeral,  I  was  drinking  as  before. 
A  few  weeks  later  my  wife,  disgusted  and  dis- 
couraged, took  our  little  girl,  then  three  and  one- 
half  years  old,  and  went  back  to  her  mother. 
Without  her  knowledge  I  loaded  all  our  house- 
hold goods  in  a  box  car,  shipped  them  to  another 
state,  sold  them  at  auction  for  fifteen  dollars  aod 


A  BUMMY  BUM.  81 

went  and  got  drunk.  I  have  never  seen  my  loved 
ones  since;  it  has  been  almost  five  years,  and  in 
my  sober  moments  my  heart  has  often  longed  for 
the  fellowship  of  my  wife  and  baby.  I  wandered 
on  as  a  man  lost  in  a  trackless  desert,  until  I 
became  a  common  tramp  and  brought  up  in  the 
slimiest  slums  of  Chicago  among  the  bummiest 
dens  of  sin,  without  home,  without  wife,  friends 
or  loved  ones  and  only  clothes  enough  to  answer 
for  an  excuse,  hatless  and  shoeless,  without  a  gar- 
ment fit  to  put  on  a  cur  dog,  shivering  with  the 
winter  cold,  I  was  ready  for  the  morgue  and  the 
suicide's  grave  in  the  potter's  field." 

After  being  absent  from  church  for  years,  he 
sought  relief  by  attending  church  services,  but  all 
in  vain.  ,  He  went  into  a  Presbyterian  church, 
hoping  to  find  food  for  his  soul,  but  the  preacher 
preached  that  night  on  "McKinley,"  and  his  poor 
starving  soul  found  no  food.  If  the  minister  had 
preached  "  Jesus  "  instead  of  "  McKinley,"  the 
young  man  would  doubtless  have  been  saved.  He 
went  into  church  after  church  hoping  to  find  help, 
but  nothing  was  offered  but  husks.  He  finally 
went  into  the  Trinity  Methodist  church  of  Cin- 
cinnati, oh,  so  hungry,  thinking  certainly  he  would 
get  soul  food  here,  but  to  his  dismay  the  learned 
doctor  lectures  on  his  "  trip  through  Europe,"  and 
6 


82  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

the  young  tramp  turned  away  from  all  churches 
in  despair.  How  little  the  preachers  of  these 
times  know  who  is  listening  when  they  are  lectur- 
ing, instead  of  preaching  the  gospel!  In  a  recent 
conversation  he  said,  "  I  never  saw  one  who  was 
really  saved  until  I  was  more  than  twenty  years 
old,  not  one,  preachers  not  excepted." 

He  loved  his  wife  and  children  tenderly,  but 
the  demon  drink  caused  him  to  neglect  and  desert 
them.  His  wife  was  true  to  him  and  remained 
with  him  as  long  as  there  was  hope  of  bread  and 
water.  At  one  time  he  braced  up  long  enough  to 
save  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  dollars,  intend- 
ing to  send  for  his  wife  and  children,  hoping  to 
have  a  home  again,  but  came  to  Chicago  and  in 
two  weeks  it  was  all  gone.  Each  time  he  went 
lower  and  lower  in  sin.  One  time  he  put  on  good 
clothes  and  secured  employment  in  a  certain  large 
firm,  but  stole  a  large  sum  of  money  and  fled  to 
another  city. 

Tired  of  tramping,  he  once  took  employment  at 
a  freight  house  on  the  dock  where  ships  were 
unloaded  in  Chicago.  It  was  night  work  and  late 
in  the  autumn  and  sometimes  not  much  to  do. 
He  said :  "  My  conviction  for  sin  was  so  great 
that  many  a  time  I  have  rolled  on  the  dirty  cement 
floor  of  that  old  freight  house  and  wept  and  cried 


A  DUMMY  BUM.  83 

for  mercy  by  the  hour,  but  I  did  not  know  how  to 
find  relief." 

One  night  he  was  wandering  down  State  Street 
when  he  heard  one  of  our  preachers  preaching 
the  gospel  and  a  sister  sang  "  There  is  wonderful 
power  in  the  Blood."  He  listened  enough  to  hear 
that  there  was  hope  and  as  the  man  closed  his  re- 
marks he  announced  that  there  were  Apostolic 
noon  meetings  held  every  day  at  the  corner  of 
Clark  and  Washington  Streets  at  noon.  For  sev- 
eral days  he  went  around  and  stood  at  the  foot  of 
the  stairs,  but  afraid  to  go  inside  where  the  serv- 
ices were  being  held.  Finally  he  ventured  in, 
took  a  back  seat,  and  for  the  first  time  in  his  life 
heard  the  full  gospel.  His  heart  was  somewhat 
tendered,  but  he  was  powerless  to  move.  He  said, 
"  If  the  papers  had  been  made  out,  signed,  sealed, 
and  delivered  for  me  to  go  to  hell,  I  could  not 
have  gone  forward."  The  meeting  closed  and  he 
turned  away  in  despair. 

For  weeks  he  wandered  through  the  streets, 
homeless  and  friendless.  It  was  coming  on  winter, 
his  feet  were  on  the  ground,  his  clothes  were  not 
sufficient  to  protect  him  from  freezing.  He  again 
thought  to  commit  suicide,  but  something 
restrained  him. 

Standing  on  the  Van  Buren  Street  bridge  about 


84  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

four  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  December  aoth, 
his  eyes  were  attracted  to  a  card  lying  at  his 
feet.  He  picked  it  up  and  scraped  off  enough  of 
the  frozen  mud  to  enable  him  to  read :  "  The 
wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal 
life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  He  turned 
it  over  and  read :  "  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.  499  State  Street,  Apostolic  Mission."  He 
stood  there  in  the  cold  and  wept  like  a  broken- 
hearted child.  Sin  had  blasted  his  life.  The 
world  had  nothing  to  offer  him.  He  attempted 
to  cry  to  God,  but  could  receive  no  answer.  When 
he  attempted  to  pray,  Satan  said :  "  It  is  too  late, 
you  have  crossed  the  dead  line,  here  you  are  a 
drunken  bum  with  no  place  to  lay  your  head,  no 
one  will  ever  take  you  in."  But  again  something 
repeated  the  words  of  the  card:  "  I  will  give  you 
rest." 

How  little  our  missionary  thought  when  she 
dropped  the  card  the  day  before  who  would  read 
it!  That  night  he  went  to  the  mission  and  three 
nights  later  found  himself  at  the  penitent  form 
where  God  gloriously  saved  him.  It  was 
Christmas  eve  and  the  most  wonderful  Christmas 
eve  he  had  ever  seen.  For  years  he  had  not  passed 
a  Christmas  without  drunkenness,  but  here  he 


A  BUMMY  BUM.  85 

found  the  gift  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
Hear  his  testimony:  "  He  who  saved  the  dying 
thief  has  saved  me.  I  was  a  living  thief,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-eight  a  drunkard,  a  gambler,  a  thief,  a 
tramp  and  at  last  a  common  bum,  and  He  has 
saved  me  from  all  my  sins." 

He  very  soon  found  employment  in  the  yards 
of  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  Company.  After 
a  few  weeks  they  asked  him  to  work  on  Sunday, 
but  by  this  time  he  was  seeking  the  experience 
of  entire  sanctification  and  said:  "No,  I  can 
not  work  on  Sunday."  The  result  was  he  was 
thrown  out  of  employment.  He  soon  obtained 
work  in  a  cooper  shop,  but  after  a  few  days  they 
put  him  to  make  wine-casks  and  he  said :  "  I  have 
been  emptying  wine-casks  for  years  and  I  can 
not  aid  in  making  them,"  and  again  he  was  out  of 
a  job. 

In  the  meantime,  he  received  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  was  sanctified  wholly.  From 
that  hour  God  put  the  message  of  full  salvation 
upon  his  lips  and  he  went  to  preaching  the  gospel 
that  had  so  wonderfully  saved  him  from  a  life 
of  sin.  He  said:  "  Brother  Rees,  I  am  going  to 
North  Dakota  where  I  can  get  work  on  the  farm 
and  earn  honest  money  and  keep  the  Sabbath."  In 
two  or  three  weeks  I  received  a  letter  from  the 


86  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

trustees  of  the  University  buildings  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Dakota,  stating  that  a  certain 
Chase  Hall  had  applied  for  the  position  of  janitor- 
ship  and  had  given  me  as  reference.  Many  would 
have  thought  it  impossible  to  recommend  such  a 
drunken  scoundrel,  but  I  told  them  the  truth  and 
said  that  I  considered  him  perfectly  trusty  as  long 
as  he  remained  as  well  saved  as  when  he  left  us. 
The  next  thing  I  heard  was  that  he  had  the  posi- 
tion and  was  preaching  on  the  street  from  three 
to  five  times  a  week.  God  has  marvelously  blessed 
him  as  a  street  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  is  a  sample  of  what  God  is  doing  in  the 
slums.  He  is  taking  both  men  and  women  from 
saloons,  dance  halls  and  brothels,  saving,  sanctify- 
ing, and  healing  them,  and  sending  them  back 
into  those  same  districts  to  preach  this  gospel 
which  is  the  power  of  God  in  the  slums. 

To  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  be  all  the 
glory  forever. 


J-ULU. 


LULU-- A  STRANGE   STORY. 

LULU  -  -  was  born  and  brought  up  in  New 
York  City.  Her  mother  died  when  she  was  four 
years  old.  Her  father  was  a  pronounced  infidel, 
and  she  was  thoroughly  schooled  in  this  unreason- 
able heresy.  She  had  no  knowledge  of  the  truth 
and  had  never  heard  the  real  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  until  she  came  to  the  Rescue  Home. 

She  was  an  unusually  bright  child.  She 
finished  grammar  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen  and 
went  out  to  work,  first  as  a  nurse  girl,  then  as  a 
housekeeper.  She  was  welcomed  back  home  only 
when  she  could  turn  in  a  good  sum  of  money  from 
her  earnings.  This  she  6rew  tired  of  and  obtained 
a  position  as  a  traveling  agent  for  a  humane 
society.  It  was  in  one  of  the  public  parks  of 
Chicago  that  she  met  a  man  who  with  flattering 
words  and  fair  speeches  led  her  into  sin  under 
promise  of  marriage.  Then  to  shield  himself  and 
the  name  of  his  family,  he  insisted  that  she  must 
put  the  baby  away  for  a  year  or  two,  and  after  they 
had  been  married  for  a  time  they  would  adopt 
the  child  as  from  an  orphanage.  She  loved  the 
child  and  said  she  would  not  desert  it  under  any 
circumstances,  Her  mother  instinct,  true  to 

89 


90  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

womanhood,  would  rather  have  the  child  and 
suffer  the  shame  than  to  have  the  man  who  would 
desert  his  own. 

While  she  was  in  the  city  hospital,  a  girl  in  the 
same  ward  received  a  letter  ,from  the  Rescue 
Home.  She  told  her  about  the  place  and  the  kind- 
ness of  the  good  ladies  there  and  Lulu  determined 
to  find  the  place  if  possible.  Infidel  that  she 
was,  she  was  saved  within  two  days  after  she 
entered  the  home.  She  went  on  fine  for  a  time  and 
could  hardly  see  the  need  of  a  second  work  of 
grace.  She  was  having  such  a  royal  good  time 
with  her  first  experience  that  a  second  to  her 
would  seem  almost  superfluous. 

But  one  day,  under  provocation,  she  grew  angry 
and  was  at  once  convicted  for  sanctification.  This 
conviction  deepened  until  it  was  most  distressing. 
Finally  her  soul  hunger  increased  and  the  black- 
ness of  darkness  became  so  unbearable  she  said 
"  something  must  be  done."  She  was  cook  that 
day  and  was  making  pumpkin  pies.  They  were 
all  filled  and  ready  for  the  oven,  when  she  could 
endure  it  no  longer.  She  said  she  was  sick,  called 
for  another  cook,  went  upstairs,  threw  herself  on 
the  floor  and  never  arose  until  she  was  sanctified 
wholly. 


LULU  — A  STRANGE  STORY.  91 

As  soon  as  the  fire  fell  upon  her  soul,  she  ran 
downstairs  and  sat  down  on  the  floor  and  told 
the  matron  all  about  it.  It  was  most  thrilling. 
Already  the  Spirit  had  been  talking  to  her  about 
change  in  her  dress  and  manner  of  life.  She  had 
a  worldly  dress  that  cost  her  thirty-five  dollars. 
One  day  she  had  worn  it  to  the  service.  She  said 
she  saw  the  preacher  look  at  it  and  she  interpreted 
his  look  to  mean  she  must  never  wear  that  dress 
to  the  service  again. 

She  has  changed  in  all  her  manner  of  life  and 
has  become  conformed  to  the  will  and  image  of 
the  Lord,  until  she  is  a  marvelous  exhibition  of 
divine  grace.  She  writes  and  reads  German  as 
well  as  English,  but  best  of  all,  she  knows  the 
language  of  Canaan,  and  testifies  that  she  is  saved 
and  sanctified  wholly.  We  will  never  cease  to 
praise  the  Lord  for  her  beautiful  life. 

To   Father,   Son,   and  Holy  Ghost  be  all   the 

glory- 


ELLA. 


LITTLE  ELLA,  OR  FROM  THE  OPIUM 
DEN  TO  THE   SACRED   DESK. 

LITTLE  Ella,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born 
in  an  Iowa  country  home.  It  seems  that  nature 
was  all  against  her.  Her  disposition  was  con- 
temptible from  a  child;  no  one  could  live  with 
her  in  any  satisfaction.  She  was  a  natural  liar, 
and  it  seemed  she  could  hardly  tell  the  truth.  Her 
mother  died  when  she  was  five  years  old.  She 
was  whipped  and  abused  by  a  stepmother,  and 
was  utterly  without  moral  or  religious  training. 
She  can  hardly  remember  when  she  began  to  use 
strong  drink,  but  became  a  drunkard  very  young, 
and  for  years  was  under  the  influence  of  liquor 
whenever  it  could  be  obtained. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  she  was  sent  to  Chicago 
in  the  company  of  a  Chicago  cab  driver.  She 
came  under  the  promise  of  employment  with  good 
wages.  She  knew  but  little  of  the  world  and  sin, 
except  as  it  existed  in  small  country  places.  She 
knew  absolutely  nothing  of  the  dens  of  vice  in  a 
great  city  like  Chicago. 

On  arriving  in  the  city,  she  was  asked  to  enter 
a  boarding  house  as  the  cab  driver's  wife.  Against 
this  her  whole  being  revolted,  but  with  threats 

93 


94  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

indescribable  she  was  forced  to  surrender.  Against 
all  his  satanic  assaults  she  stood  out  for  a  whole 
day  and  night,  but  a  lonely  girl  in  a  strange  city, 
without  a  friend,  having  never  had  the  counsel  of 
a  mother,  the  pressure  was  too  great,  and  she  went 
down. 

She  was  so  ignorant  of  the  ways  of  sin  that  she 
did  not  know  it  was  possible  for  her  to  make  sin 
remunerative ;  she  was  utterly  unacquainted  with 
the  consequences  of  such  a  life.  Having  once 
fallen,  it  was  easy  for  her  to  go  down  lower  and 
lower.  She  sank  until  she  found  herself  friend- 
less and  homeless  in  a  saloon,  where  she  was  kept 
intoxicated  all  night  long. 

A  number  of  times  she  determined  to  do  better, 
and  made  earnest  efforts  to  get  on  her  feet,  but 
with  nobody  to  help,  her  efforts  were  in  vain.  She 
was  finally  sold  to  the  keeper  of  a  sporting  house 
for  the  sum  of  five  dollars,  and  went  from  bad  to 
worse  until  she  found  herself  in  one  of  the  lowest 
opium  dens  of  our  great  city.  There  were  times 
when  it  seemed  there  was  nothing  too  bad  for  her 
to  do.  She  even  stooped  to  hustling  in  the  saloons. 

Yet,  all  this  time  there  was  something  nobler 
struggling  for  supremacy  in  her  heart  and  life. 
At  one  time  she  was  seeking  a  better  way,  and 
walking  the  streets  of  the  city  when  sh<  was  ap- 


LITTLE  ELLA.  95 

preached  by  an  old  villain  whose  form  was  bend- 
ing with  years,  from  whom  she  received  the  vilest 
propositions.  Nobody  ever  said  a  kind  word,  no- 
body ever  talked  to  her  about  her  soul,  she  did 
not  know  she  had  any  friends. 

When  her  frail  body  became  so  weakened  by 
disease  that  she  was  no  longer  serviceable  in  the 
haunts  of  vice,  she  was  carried  off  to  the  public 
hospital.  It  was  here  she  was  found  by  one  who 
was  her  real  friend,  and  who  brought  her  to  Rest 
Cottage.  Very  soon  she  was  gloriously  converted, 
and  a  little  later  received  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  fire.  But  the  habit  of  lying  had  so  fast- 
ened its  fangs  upon  her  that  she  told  one  lie  after 
she  was  saved,  which  has  given  the  poor  girl  great 
pain,  and  her  repentance  has  been  with  tears  and 
bitterness.  God  has  touched  her  sick  body,  and 
she  has  been  made  a  real  benediction.  She  has 
been  instrumental  in  leading  souls  to  the  "  Foun- 
tain of  cleansing,"  and  although  through  all  her 
earlier  years  all  her  natural  tendencies  seemed  to 
be  against  her,  she  is  most  conscientious,  and  has 
come  to  be  a  lover  of  truth,  integrity  and  upright- 
ness, carrying  great  reservoirs  of  sunshine  wher- 
ever she  goes,  and  has  been  a  great  benediction  to 
the  Home. 

After  hours  of  weeping  and  praying  she  re- 


96  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ceived  what  she  felt  to  be  a  clear  call  to  the  mis- 
sion fields  of  China.  God  opened  the  way,  and 
we  placed  her  in  the  Bible  school.  God  has  made 
her  an  efficient  preacher  of  His  Word.  She  is 
such  a  Quakeress  that  she  will  preach  whenever 
the  Spirit  comes  upon  her,  whether  on  the  street 
or  electric  car  or  in  public  parks.  One  summer 
afternoon  Sister  Knapp  took  the  girls  for  an  after- 
noon in  River  Park.  Public  preaching  is  pro- 
hibited here  by  law,  but  Little  Ella  did  not  know 
this,  and  feeling  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  come  upon 
her,  she  lifted  up  her  voice  and  began  to  preach. 

The  crowds  assembled,  the  boatman  on  the  river 
drew  up  to  the  shore,  and  climbed  upon  the  bank 
to  listen.  After  a  time  the  officer  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  park  heard  her  voice,  came  over,  and 
taking  her  by  the  arm  said:  "  See  here,  you  are 
not  allowed  to  preach  in  this  park."  Little 
Lizzie,  who  had  also  been  rescued  from  a  life  of 
sin,  stood  near,  and  turning  to  the  policeman  said: 
"  Is  there  any  law  against  our  preaching  to  you?  " 
Surprised,  embarrassed,  and  confused,  the  officer 
said:  "No,  I  do  not  know  that  there  is."  Little 
Ella  turned  to  him  and  finished  her  sermon.  It 
was  a  real  victory  for  the  gospel. 

At  the  close  of  her  message,  a  brilliant  young 
Jew  stepped  up  and  said:  "I  have  never  read 


LITTLE  ELLA.  97 

your  Bible,  I  have  only  heard  a  little.  Will  you 
tell  me  the  story  from  the  manger  to  the  cross?  " 
and  sat  down  on  the  grass  at  her  feet  while  she 
told  him  of  the  birth,  suffering,  death,  resur- 
rection and  ascension  of  Jesus.  His  eyes  were 
filled  with  tears,  and  he  seemed  deeply  touched. 

It  is  the  salvation  of  such  girls  as  these  that  en- 
courages our  hearts  in  hard  places  to  push  this 
battle  to  the  gate,  and  makes  us  feel  that  we  must 
rescue  others  from  the  same  fate.  Will  not  all 
who  read  these  lines  pray  earnestly  that  Little  Ella 
may  be  made  a  missionary  of  the  cross,  and  that 
the  rescue  work  may  be  greatly  enlarged  through- 
out our  borders? 

Ten  thousand  blessings  on  all  who  pray  for  or 
contribute  to  this  much  neglected  work. 


THANKSGIVING  IN  CHICAGO  SLUMS. 

THIS  was  one  of  the  greatest  days  of  my  life. 
After  our  missionaries  had  sent  out  well-lilled 
baskets  of  food  to  twenty-seven  families  of  the 
worthy  poor,  we  all  loaded  ourselves  down  with 
roasted  turkey  and  all  the  "  fixings  "  that  go  with 
a  turkey  dinner  and  started  to  the  Harrison  Street 
Police  Station.  We  had  sent  some  of  the  workers 
and  provisions  on  ahead  to  be  cooked  in  the  jail, 
but  we  were  still  loaded  until  we  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  public  on  the  streets  and  in  the 
cars.  For  once  we  were  a  gazing  stock,  but  joy 
so  flooded  our  souls  that  it  had  no  effect  on  us. 

The  officials  of  the  prison  were  very  kind  and  in 
a  short  time  the  table  was  loaded  with  a  steaming 
dinner.  The  chief  matron  of  the  Chicago  force 
was  there  to  greet  and  assist  us.  It  was  a  sight  I 
will  never  forget.  One  poor  girl  not  more  than 
fifteen  years  old  said  she  had  dreamed  of  turkey 
the  night  before,  but,  of  course,  had  no  hope  of 
seeing  one.  Some  of  the  girls  wept  and  sobbed 
so  they  could  hardly  eat.  Poor  girls,  the  memory 
of  other  thanksgivings  rushed  in  upon  them  and 
broke  their  hearts. 

When  they  were  all  at  the  table,  we  had  prayer 

99 


100  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  while  one  of  the  missionaries  played  the 
organ  and  sang  "The  day  will  soon  be  over,  the 
digging  will  be  done,"  the  police  matron,  a  noble- 
hearted  woman  wept  with  us  over  this  touching- 
scene.  Several  gave  their  hearts  to  God  during 
the  day. 

We  overheard  some  of  the  men  who  were  fed  in 
their  cells,  talking  about  the  great  kindness  of 
those  who  had  remembered  them,  and  they  were 
deeply  touched.  We  have  rescued  five  girls  within 
one  week,  and  four  of  them  are  beautifully  saved. 
I  tell  this  to  the  glory  of  God  and  to  the  comfort 
of  those  all  over  the  land  who  are  giving  to  the 
support  of  this  work. 

To  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  be  all  the 
glory  forever. 


RESCUED    FROM    CHICAGO    JAIL. 


RESCUED  FROM  CHICAGO  JAIL. 

MANY  who  will  read  these  lines  have  been 
deeply  interested  in  the  poor,  starving  family 
which  was  rescued  from  the  witness  cell  in  the 
Harrison  Street  Police  Station.  The  cut  accom- 
panying this  sketch  is  from  a  picture  made  after 
their  condition  was  somewhat  improved,  but  still 
showing  the  lines  of  starvation. 

When  we  determined  to  take  them,  and  trust 
God  for  the  means  of  support,  the  police  authori- 
ties said  "  That  is  real  charity,"  and  proposed  to 
send  them  to  the  depot,  and  then  telephoned  to 
the  Austin  patrol  to  meet  the  train  at  Austin 
Station  and  convey  them  to  the  home  we  had 
provided  for  their  care. 

Of  course,  one  of  our  missionaries  must  accom- 
pany them  to  see  them  safely  through  their 
journey.  When  they  were  lifted  into  the  patrol, 
the  missionary  climbed  in  with  them  and  the 
police  exclaimed  with  astonishment:  "You  are 
not  going  to  ride  in  the  patrol,  are  you?  "  "  Cer- 
tainly," she  said,  "  why  not?  "  That  is  what  full 
salvation  does.  Followed  by  a  curious  throng 
through  the  streets,  she  was  made  a  spectacle  to 
angels  and  men. 

103 


104  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

• 
The  baby  sitting  in  its  mother's  lap  was  too 

far  gone.  After  two  weeks  it  went  to  be  with 
Jesus.  The  remainder  of  the  family  recovered 
and  after  a  few  weeks  we  set  them  up  to  house- 
keeping in  a  small  way.  How  grateful  they 
seemed  for  all  the  kindness  shown  them!  There  is 
a  joy  that  comes  from'  helping  others  that  is  never 
known  by  those  who  think  only  of  themselves. 

"  He  that  giveth  to  the  poor  lendeth  to  the 
Lord."  What  an  investment  it  must  be  to  place 
funds  with  Him.  He  will  certainly  see  that  the 
returns  are  ample. 


CHRISTINE. 


CHRISTINE,   A   BROKEN-HEARTED 
GIRL. 

CHRISTINE  -  -  was  born  of  Christian  parents 
in  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  Her  mother  died  when 
she  was  twelve  years  old.  It  was  not  very  long 
until  a  step-mother  made  it  very  unpleasant  for 
the  poor  girl  in  the  home.  She  determined  that 
the  only  way  to  keep  peace  in  the  family  was  for 
her  to  leave  home.  She  found  employment  as  a 
saleslady,  first  in  Milwaukee  and  then  in  Chicago. 

Brought  up  in  the  church,  she  was  a  great 
worker  in  the  Epworth  League,  on  the  Social 
Committee,  regular  at  all  church  services,  faith- 
ful in  all  the  church  entertainments,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  popular  quartet  and  most  diligent  in 
her  efforts  to  increase  the  attendance  of  the  church 
services. 

Finally  the  influence  of  the  church  socials  gave 
her  a  liking  for  more  worldly  entertainments  and 
she  soon  found  herself  in  circles  of  worldliness 
and  sin.  Now  and  then  she  found  it  convenient 
to  take  a  glass  of  wine.  On  Thanksgiving  eve 
she  was  in  attendance  at  a  party  where  she  thought 
her  womanhood  and  virtue  were  in  perfect  safety. 

107 


io8  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

But  late  in  the  evening  a  drug  was  slipped  into 
her  glass  of  wine  and  she  was  soon  unconscious. 

When  she  awoke  the  next  day,  it  was  only  to 
disappointment  and  sorrow,  for  she  found  herself 
forever  hopelessly  ruined.  There  is  no  language 
to  express  the  feelings  of  this  poor  heart-broken 
girl  as  the  real  situation  dawned  upon  her.  She 
had  gradually  step  by  step  deviated  from  her  early 
training  and  she  now  found  herself  helpless  and 
hopeless  in  the  embrace  of  ruin. 

Filled  with  unutterable  sorrow  and  with  not  a 
ray  of  hope  for  anything  worth  living  for,  she 
turned  upon  the  guilty  party  and  with  words 
almost  too  strong  for  us  to  repeat  told  him  that 
there  was  not  a  place  in  hell  hot  enough  for  him. 
She  says,  "  If  I  had  been  capable  of  murder,  I 
would  have  killed  him  on  the  spot." 

Her  next  impression  was  to  commit  suicide,  but 
God  mercifully  withheld  her  from  this  awful 
deed.  The  world  was  a  wilderness  of  blackness 
and  darkness,  and  about  that  time  her  father,  her 
only  earthy  friend  was  taken  home  to  heaven. 

Homeless,  friendless  and  sick,  she  was  thrown 
into  the  Cook  County  Hospital.  It  was  here  a 
kind  lady  told  her  of  Rest  Cottage  and  of  Jesus 
who  was  able  to  save.  She  was  brought  to  the 


CHRISTINE.  109 

Rescue  Home  in  Chicago,  but  seemed  slow  to 
yield  to  the  convictions  of  the  Spirit. 

She  was  listening  to  a  sermon  on  the  fifty-third 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  when  suddenly  she  seemed  to 
see  Jesus  dying  on  the  cross  for  her.  All  she 
would  have  to  surrender  loomed  up  before  her. 
All  she  seemed  to  have  in  the  world  was  her  dar- 
ling baby,  which  she  loved  tenderly.  When  she 
saw  that  she  frnust  give  her  all,  including  the 
baby,  to  Jesus  she  hesitated;  it  seemed  the  hardest 
thing  of  her  life  to  give  up  her  only  comfort.  But 
late  at  night,  she  was  induced  to  say,  "  Yes,  my 
baby  and  all,  I  yield  to  God  forever."  The  peace 
and  happiness  that  came  streaming  into  her  soul 
was  something  beyond  all  expression.  When  she 
retired,  the  baby  was  in  usual  health  and  her  soul 
was  flooded  with  the  sunlight  of  glory.  When 
she  awoke  the  next  morning,  her  darling  baby  was 
dead  on  her  arm,  but  the  glory  of  God  was  still 
in  her  soul  and  she  said,  "  What  I  did  last  night  in 
giving  my  baby  to  the  Lord  stands  forever." 

That  was  a  most  touching  funeral.  She  had  no 
thought  when  she  said  yes  to  God  that  He  would 
so  soon  take  her  darling,  but  her  soul  never  drew 
back.  From  that  day,  she  made  rapid  advance 
in  divine  grace.  She  soon  received  a  distinct  call 


I  io  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

to  God's  work,  and  the  burning,  passionate  love 
for  fallen  girls  has  so  consumed  her  whole  being 
that  it  seems  at  times  that  she  will  die  if  she  is 
not  able  to  save  the  lost. 

It  was  made  so  plain  to  us  that  the  hand  of  the 
Lord  was  upon  her  in  preparation  for  soul  win- 
ning that  we  have  sent  her  to  the  Bible  School  to 
be  trained  for  this  work  of  rescuing  the  perishing. 

In  the  school  she  proved  herself  worthy  of 
her  calling,  and  she  will  soon  go  forth  to  the 
great  harvest  field  to  labor  for  souls. 

Praise  the  Lord. 


"A   SLUM    FEAST." 

A  FEW  years  ago  my  attention  was  called  to 
Luke  14:  13,  where  Jesus  was  teaching  the  divine 
principles  of  New  Testament  salvation.  Here  I 
made  the  startling  discovery  that  very  few  of 
us  are  practically  "Bible  Christians."  Many  years 
ago  I  had  covenanted  to  be  a  Bible  Christian,  and 
to  walk  in  all  the  light  received.  This  seemed 
to  me  like  a  new  revelation.  "  When  thou  makest 
a  dinner  or  a  supper,  call  not  thy  friends,  nor 
thy  brethren,  neither  thy  kinsmen,  nor  thy  rich 
neighbors ;  lest  they  also  bid  thee  again.  But  when 
thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the  poor,  the  maimed, 
the  lame,  the  blind;  and  thou  shalt  be  blessed; 
for  they  can  not  recompense  thee;  for  thou  shalt 
be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the  just." 

Here  I  was  convicted  to  practice,  literally, 
the  contents  of  this  Scripture.  Christmas  was 
approaching.  Chicago  was  spending  fourteen 
million  dollars  for  gifts  alone,  and  everybody  who 
could  were  making  preparations  for  Christmas' 
turkey  dinners.  I  said  to  my  family,  we  will  not 
have  turkey  this  Christmas,  we  will  defer  our 
dinner  and  spend  Christmas  in  the  slums.  We 
announced  that  at  twelve  o'clock  on  Christmas 
8  113 


114  MIRACLES   IN   THE  SLUMS. 

Day  the  Mission  in  the  slums  on  lower  State 
Street  would  be  opened,  and  a  free  dinner  would 
be  furnished  to  all  homeless  men. 

Long  before  twelve  o'clock,  the  street  war 
thronged.  The  bums,  thugs,  tramps,  and  red 
nosed  drunkards  of  every  description,  in  tattered 
garments,  rags,  and  vermin,  waited  in  zero 
weather  for  the  door  to  open.  Many  of  them 
were  college  bred.  Doctors,  lawyers,  merchants, 
mechanics,  and  some  from  the  best  of  homes,  and 
in  fact  they  were  there  from  almost  every  walk 
of  life.  When  the  door  was  opened,  with 
uncovered  heads  they  marched  in  as  orderly  as 
a  congregation  of  Quakers  or  Presbyterians. 
When  the  Mission  was  rilled  to  the  utmost 
capacity,  the  doors  were  closed.  When  all  were 
seated  at  the  long,  well-filled  tables,  they  politely 
bowed  their  heads  while  we  asked  God's  blessing 
upon  the  food. 

While  a  dozen  of  our  mission  workers  served 
them  with  hot  coffee  and  a  palatable  dinner,  we 
preached  to  them  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Many 
were  the  touching  and  pathetic  scenes  as  their  eyes 
filled  with  tears  on  account  of  the  kindness  shown 
them  by  the  Christian  workers. 

When  all  were  satisfied,  we  were  forced  to  turn 
them  out  in  the  cold,  and  filled  the  Mission  a 


"A  SLUM   FEAST."  H5 

second  time  with  those  who  had  stood  out  in  the 
wintry  blast.  This  was  done  a  third,  fourth,  and 
fifth  time.  Each  Mission  full  were  prayed  with, 
and  preached  to,  and  satisfied  with  the  good  things 
of  the  table. 

Strong  men  as  well  as  boys  were  seen  choking 
with  vivid  recollections  of  their  mothers  and 
sisters,  as  our  young  women  so  freely  served  them. 
Many  eyes  were  wet  with  tears  at  the  remem- 
brance of  other  Christmas  days,  their  well-filled 
stockings  in  the  "  old  chimney  corner,"  and  the 
sweet  voices  ringing  out,  "  I  wish  you  a  Merry 
Christmas." 

Most  people  say  it  is  folly  to  feed  such  worthless 
wretches,  but  as  a  result  of  that  one  dinner,  seven 
of  those  men  were  brought  to  God  that  day.  That 
dinner  proved  a  wonderful  quickening  to  the 
spiritual  life  of  the  Mission,  and  a  wonderful 
incentive  to  activity  in  service. 

That  dinner  cost  about  thirty-five  dollars  out 
side  of  some  donations  of  food.  That  was  five 
dollars  a  head  for  the  souls  that  were  saved  that 
day.  You  may  say  that  a  "  Bum  "  is  not  worth 
five  dollars,  but  if  he  should  be  standing  inside  the 
"Gates  of  Pearl  "  to  greet  us  when  we  arrive  in 
heaven,  we  will  think  then  that  he  is  worth  it.  It 
was  the  kindness  that  broke  their  hearts.  They 


ii6  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

were  accustomed  to  everything  else.  You  could 
not  phase  them  with  a  policeman's  club,  or  sub- 
due them  with  a  seven  shooter,  but  kind  words  and 
deeds  melted  and  conquered  the  most  hardened 
hearts. 

One  of  the  men  who  was  converted  that  day  was 
an  atheist,  said  he  never  had  believed  in  God  or 
religion,  but  when  he  saw  the  kindness  shown  to 
fallen  men  that  day,  he  said  there  must  be  some- 
thing in  it,  and  sought  and  found  God. 

Beloved,  those  fellows  do  not  need  to  be  told 
about  the  "  fall  of  man,"  "  original  sin,"  or  an 
"  endless  hell,"  they  have  acres  of  hell  in  their  own 
hearts.  They  need  some  one  to  love  them,  and 
tell  them  there  is  hope.  Beloved,  are  you  a  Chris- 
tian? Are  you  not  a  member  of  some  orthodox 
church?  Then  who  is  invited  when  there  is  a  feast 
in  your  home?  Who  is  it  that  eats  turkey  with  you 
at  Thanksgiving  and  at  Christmas  time?  Who 
is  present  at  your  birthday  dinners  and  wedding 
anniversaries?  Is  it  your  children,  and  their 
children?  Or  your  neighbors,  who  are  as  able  to 
make  a  feast  as  yourselves? 

When  did  the  poor,  the  lame,  and  the  outcasts 
of  earth  feast  with  you? 


THREE    SLUM     MISSIONARIES. 


LILLIE,   A  FRIENDLESS   GIRL. 

SOME  of  the  most  clinging,  dependent  charac- 
ters are  found  among  the  fallen  girls  of  this  land. 
Their  very  lovely,  loving,  clinging  dispositions 
have  been  the  avenue  through  which  Satan  has 
performed  his  subtle,  fiendish  work.  Many  a  girl 
is  so  artless  and  innocent  that  she  is  led  into  sin 
almost  before  she  is  aware  of  it.  One  of  the 
noblest  characteristics  of  womanhood  is  the 
strength  of  her  affectionate  nature.  The  affections 
of  a  young  girl,  between  the  ages  of  thirteen  and 
eighteen  are  easily  won  by  kindness  and  flattery 
and  a  man  who  will  trifle  with  a  woman's  affec- 
tions is  destitute  of  true  manhood,  and  has  little 
more  soul  than  a  brute.  But  "  wicked  men  and 
seducers  are  waxing  worse  and  worse,"  and  hun- 
dreds of  beastly  men  play  with  a  woman's  affec- 
tions as  if  they  were  of  small  consequence. 

It  was  one  of  these  heartless  demons  in  human 
form  that  led  our  dear  Lillie  to  the  slaughter. 
How  much  kinder  it  would  have  been  for  him  to 
have  shot  her  head  off  with  a  gun.  Her  mother 
died  when  she  was  four  years  old;  her  father  was 
a  gambling,  drinking  man,  and  gambled  away  two 
or  three  good  homes.  Her  stepmother  disliked 

119 


120  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

her  because  she  looked  like  her  mother.  She 
endured  the  unpleasantness  at  home  and  remained 
in  school  until  at  the  age  of  seventeen  her  father 
refused  to  clothe  her  and  in  an  awful  fit  of  anger 
swore  that  he  would  do  nothing  more  for  her. 
She  was  forced  out  in  the  cold  world  to  make  her 
own  way. 

She  obtained  employment,  first  at  seventy-five 
cents  per  week,  and  out  of  her  small  earnings 
managed  to  send  some  money  home  each  week, 
which  her  father  gambled  and  drank  up.  When 
her  little  half-sister  died,  there  was  no  money  to 
bury  her  and  Lillie  buried  the  child  and  worked 
out  the  price  of  the  funeral  outfit  by  the  week. 

The  villain  who  ruined  her  was  the  mayor's  son. 
He  met  her  first  in  the  round  dance.  It  was  to  her 
the  dance  of  death.  It  has  proven  thus  to  thou- 
sands of  American  daughters.  What  a  hot-bed  of 
lust  is  the  parlor  dance,  indulged  in  by  so  many 
so-called  Christians  (?).  The  fruits  of  dancing, 
and  the  experience  of  tens  of  thousands  prove  that 
men  do  not  have  women  in  their  arms  in  the  round 
dance  without  having  impure  feelings.  Many 
a  mother  has  planned  the  dancing-party  in  her 
own  parlor  that  has  started  her  children  into  a  life 
of  impurity.  Many  a  man  will  dance  with  hun- 


LILLIE,  A   FRIENDLESS  GIRL.  121 

dreds  of  women,  but  when  he  comes  to  marry,  he 
does  not  want  a  dancing  wife.  Why?  Because 
he  does  not  want  a  wife  who  has  been  in  the  arms 
of  all  of  the  men  of  the  neighborhood.  It  is  time 
the  girls  of  America  were  demanding  the  same 
standard  of  purity  in  their  husbands,  as  is 
demanded  of  them.  Sister,  why  should  you  con- 
sent to  marry  a  man  who  has  hugged  and  waltzed 
with  all  the  dancing- women  in  town? 

Many  a  time  Lillie  longed  to  be  a  Christian, 
but  she  came  in  contact  with  so  much  sham  re- 
ligion, and  never  met  the  genuine,  that  she  knew 
not  the  way  of  salvation.  She  worked  in  the  home 
of  a  minister  who  not  only  drank  beer  and  was 
mean  in  his  family,  but  made  such  advances 
toward  her  as  to  make  her  know  that  he  was  a  bad 
man. 

When  ruined  and  deserted  by  those  who  should 
have  protected  her,  she  attempted  suicide  by  turn- 
ing on  the  gas,  but  was  rescued  just  in  time  to 
save  her  life.  She  lived  in  a  Hoosier  city,  but 
when  the  mayor  and  his  son  had  turned  her  down, 
everybody  who  knew  her  turned  from  her.  Not 
an  earthly  friend  did  she  have  who  stood  by  her. 
The  mayor  seemed  especially  averse  to  this  friend- 
less girl  whom  his  son  had  ruined.  Everybody 


122  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

took  the  side  of  the  young  villain,  as  is  commonly 
the  case.  The  poor,  heart-broken  child  started 
out,  she  hardly  knew  where. 

When  she  arrived  in  Chicago,  she  walked  the 
streets  a  perfect  stranger,  among  two  million  peo- 
ple; she  wept  and  wrung  her  hands  and  sobbed 
aloud.  She  walked  block  after  block;  some  would 
stop  and  look,  but  it  was  only  a  woman  in  trouble, 
and  nobody  had  time  even  to  ask  a  question.  She 
saw  a  policeman,  and  thought  she  would  tell  him 
her  story,  and  ask  his  advice,  but  he  was  such  a 
vicious-looking  officer  that  the  poor  girl  was 
afraid  of  him.  She  walked  on,  and  wept  and 
wrung  her  hands,  and  tried  to  pray,  but  she 
knew  not  the  way  of  salvation.  She  saw  another 
officer,  and  he  was  not  quite  so  cross-looking,  and 
weeping  as  if  her  heart  would  break,  she  told  him 
her  story,  and  begged  him  to  do  something  for 
her.  He  pressed  a  button  and  called  the  patrol, 
and  she  was  thrown  into  the  famous  Harrison 
Street  Police  Station,  and  there  she  lay  in  that 
dingy  jail  from  Sunday  till  Wednesday. 

The  matron  of  the  station  is  a  noble-hearted 
woman,  and  is  a  warm  friend  of  our  rescue  work. 
She  sent  word  to  our  missionaries,  and  one  of  them 
went  to  the  station,  and  Lillie  says  from  the  mo- 


LILLIE,  A  FRIENDLESS  GIRL.  123 

ment  she  looked  upon  her  face,  she  saw  she  had 
something  she  had  never  seen  in  any  one's  face 
before.  When  asked  if  she  would  come  to  Rest 
Cottage,  she  said,  "Certainly;  I  have  no  other 
place  to  go."  That  very  night  she  stood  up  in  a 
public  meeting,  and  with  streaming  eyes  requested 
prayer.  It  was  not  long  until  she  was  wonder- 
fully saved.  She  has  since  been  sanctified  wholly, 
clearly  called,  and  is  a  divinely  qualified  mission 
worker. 

We  placed  her  in  the  Bible  School  until  she  felt 
she  must  go  into  the  slums  to  preach  Jesus  to  the 
fallen.  She  is  now  a  regular  ordained  deaconness 
of  the  International  Apostolic  Holiness  Union, 
and  has  been  a  most  successful  missionary  in  the 
slums.  For  some  months  she  has  traveled  as  an 
evangelist,  and  God  has  marvelously  blessed  her 
labors  in  the  salvation  of  souls.  Whole  families 
have  turned  to  God,  erected  a  family  altar,  and 
have  thrown  wide  open  their  hearts  and  doors  and 
offered  Lillie  a  home.  Whether  she  stands  in 
the  pulpit  facing  five  hundred  people,  or  in  the 
court  room  facing  a  stern-looking  judge  and  a 
jury  of  twelve  men,  she  always  brings  the  house 
down,  when  with  streaming  eyes  she  tells  them 
her  own  story.  It  is  enough  to  melt  a  heart  of 
stone. 


124  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

The  following  are  a  few  incidents  of  her  expe- 
rience in  the  slums :  — 

"  I  visited  a  mother  and  children  in  poverty. 
She  had  kept  her  children  from  starvation  by 
securing  the  crumbs  from  the  tables  01  a  restau- 
rant. The  little  baby  had  had  no  milk  for  two 
days;  its  hands  and  face  were  pinched  with  hun- 
ger. I  gave  them  a  little  relief,  and  prayed  with 
them."  How  much  can  be  accomplished  with  a 
very  little  means  in  the  slums.  A  hod  of  coal,  a 
three-cent  loaf  of  bread,  or  a  pint  of  milk  for  the 
baby,  may  bring  tears  of  gratitude  to  their  eyes, 
and  tide  them  over  a  crisis. 

"  I  found  a  poor  sick  woman  and  little  children 
entirely  destitute.  I  handed  her  some  money,  and 
began  talking  to  her  about  the  salvation  of  her 
soul.  She  laid  the  money  on  the  table,  and  her 
hungry  soul  listened  to  every  word.  She  soon 
fell  upon  her  knees  and  wept  her  way  to  Calvary. 
God  wonderfully  saved  her  soul.  When  she  arose 
from  her  knees,  I  called  her  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  children  were  playing  with  the  money. 
She  said,  '  I  had  forgotten  all  about  it.  I  needed 
the  money,  but  I  needed  salvation  so  much  more, 
and  I've  got  it  now.'  Glory  to  God. 


LILLIE,  A  FRIENDLESS  GIRL.  125 

\ 

"  I  felt  led  to  go  to  a  certain  house  of  shame, 
but  was  refused  admittance.  I  went  several  times, 
but  was  never  permitted  to  enter.  One  day  while 
working  in  another  part  of  the  city,  I  suddenly 
felt  led  to  turn  and  go  to  that  house  again.  When 
I  stood  at  the  door  the  madam  said  to  the  girl 
who  opened  it,  '  Yes,  tell  them  they  are  welcome 
to-day.'  Satan  instantly  suggested  that  they 
wanted  me  for  a  purpose,  and  that  I  would  never 
get  out,  but  the  courage  of  God  rose  up  in  my 
soul,  and  I  fearlessly  walked  in.  When  I  told 
them  my  experience, —  what  a  discouraged, 
wrecked  life  I  had  lived,  and  that  Jesus  had  saved 
me,  all  five  of  -them  broke  down  and  wept  under 
the  power  of  God.  We  are  welcome  in  that 
house." 

It  is  the  power  of  the  gospel  in  the  slums. 


MISS    M- 


MISS  M . 

PREACHING  to  the  female  prisoners  in  the  Chi- 
cago jail,  I  observed  a  girl  about  nineteen  years 
of  age,  with  an  unusual  face  and  symmetrical 
form,  elegantly  dressed  in  silk,  for  whom  I  was 
especially  drawn  out  in  prayer.  Her  manner  and 
bearing  were  in  striking  contrast  with  all  the  sur- 
roundings. Everything  indicated  that  she  was 
from  the  better  walks  of  life.  At  first  she  was  de- 
fiant, and  showed  signs  of  an  attempt  to  lead  the 
prisoners  in  a  bit  of  sport.  I  silently  breathed 
one  short  prayer,  "  Blessed  Holy  Ghost,  save  that 
girl,  and  make  her  a  missionary."  Within  a  few 
minutes  she  was  on  her  knees,  and  in  tears  crying 
out  to  God  for  mercy. 

After  a  little  conversation  with  her,  I  went  to 
the  chief  matron  and  said,  "  What  can  I  do  for 

M ?  "  She  answered,  "  There  is  nothing  you 

can  do.  Her  crime  is  grand  larceny,  and  she  must 
go  to  the  State's  prison."  I  said,  "  It  is  too  bad; 
I  wish  I  could  do  something  for  her."  She  in- 
sisted there  was  nothing  I  could  do. 

When  I  returned  the  following  Sabbath,  to 
my  surprise  M—  -  was  still  there.  According  to 
the  usual  custom  she  should  have  been  removed 

127 


128  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

to  the  county  jail.  The  captain  said  it  was  a  mis- 
take. I  saw  in  it  a  divine  providence.  After 
another  opportunity  of  prayer  and  conversation 
with  the  poor  heart-broken  girl,  I  felt  sure  that 
she  had  had  her  lesson,  and  that  Christ  could  and 
would  save  her.  The  second  time  I  went  to  the 
matron,  and  said,  "  I  want  to  do  something  for' 
M—  -;  "  but,  as  before,  she  said,  "  There  is  noth- 
ing you  can  do." 

I  went  to  the  captain ;  he  seemed  like  a  gentle- 
man, but  said  he  was  powerless.  He  sent  me  to 
the  detective  who  had  made  the  arrest.  He  re- 
ceived me  kindly,  but  sent  me  to  the  chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Detectives,  who  was  not  very  approach- 
able, and  seemed  to  me  quite  heartless  in  his  atti- 
tude toward  the  girls.  He  said,  "  Such  girls  are 
no  good;  you  had  just  as  well  let  her  go  to  the 
penitentiary."  But  I  begged  that  she  might  have 
another  chance.  He  finally  sent  me  to  the  Judge 
of  the  court,  and  he  referred  me  to  another  judge. 
I  thought  I  saw  that  it  was  to  get  rid  of  me,  but 
did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  give  up  the  chase. 

I  went  home  tired  out,  and  tried  to  think  that 
I  had  done  my  duty,  but  the  next  morning  I  found 
myself  on  the  path  to  secure  that  girl.  The  sec- 
ond judge  had  referred  me  to  the  clerk  of  the 
court,  and  he  had  no  more  to  do  with  it  than  I 


MISS  M .  129 

had,  but  he  assured  me  the  state's  attorney  was 
the  man  I  wanted  to  see.  The  state's  attorney  sent 
me  to  the  grand  jury,  and  the  grand  jury  refused 
to  see  me.  I  finally  saw  that  if  I  obtained  her  at 
all,  it  must  be  under  suspended  sentence,  so  I  asked 
that  her  case  be  brought  into  court;  but  the  only 
promise  that  I  could  secure  was,  that  I  would  be 
notified  when  her  case  was  to  come  up. 

Just  then  I  was  compelled  to  go  to  Boston  to 
hold  a  convention.  I  charged  my  head  mission- 
ary to  appear  in  the  court,  and  plead  for  M 

as  she  would  for  an  own  sister.  The  missionary 
at  that  time  was  not  as  familiar  with  judges  and 
juries  as  she  is  to-day.  When  the  notice  was 
received,  she  went  into  her  closet  and  prayed,  and 
went  into  court  and  preached  Jesus  until  they  were 
glad  to  give  her  the  girl,  to  get  rid  of  her.  You 
may  imagine  that  my  heart  leaped  with  joy  when 

the  message  reached  me  that  M was  safe  in 

the  Home. 

She  soon  began  writing  letters  of  apology, 
making  wrongs  right  by  returning  stolen  articles, 
until  finally  God  wonderfully  saved  her  soul. 
Poor  girl!  How  she  suffered  with  remorse.  She 
soon  felt  called  to  missionary  work,  and  we  sent 
her  to  the  Bible  Training  School  instead  of  to  the 
penitentiary.  Do  you  not  think  that  was  far  bet- 
9 


130  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ter?  In  the  Bible  School  she  conducted  herself 
in  a  very  commendable  manner,  and  made  good 
progress  in  her  studies.  But  the  power  of  habit 
was  so  strong  that  she  made  one  break  and  went 
down.  But  God  put  her  on  her  feet  again.  Soon 
after  leaving  the  Bible  School  she  was  taken  ill, 
and  for  sixteen  long  weeks  lay  in  the  hospital  a 
great  sufferer.  But  here  God  talked  to  her  about 
His  will  for  her  in  the  future,  and  she  was  led 
into  a  depth  and  solidity  of  Christian  experience 
which  she  had  not  known. 

When  she  recovered  her  strength  sufficiently, 
the  Lord  opened  the  way  for  her  to  take  a  posi- 
tion as  assistant  matron  of  a  Rescue  Home  for 
girls.  How  God  does  honor  those  who  honor 
Him,  regardless  of  what  they  have  been. 

After  a  time  she  was  sent  to  a  Deaconess'  Train- 
ing School  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  for  further  prep- 
aration for  the  work.  When  she  was  through 
her  course  of  study,  she  went  into  the  slums  of 
New  York  City,  where  she  is  a  faithful  missionary 
of  the  Cross  to-day.  Her  spirit  is  covered  with 
the  radiance  of  heaven,  and  her  face  is  glowing 
with  the  splendors  of  divine  grace.  To  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost  be  all  the  glory  forever. 


BERNIE. 

THE  subject  of  this  sketch  baffles  all  human 
imagination,  and  all  power  of  description.  Her 
unselfish  nature  would,  out  of  respect  for  her 
relatives  whom  she  feels  she  has  greatly  injured, 
withhold  her  name  from  the  reading  public.  She 
submits  to  publication  this  strange  story  of  her 
life  only  to  glorify  God,  and  magnify  the  grace 
of  His  Son,  who  has  saved  her  from  all  sin,  and 
whom  she  worships  and  adores  above  all  others. 
Beloved,  it  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  testify  that 
this  daughter  of  sorrow  is  unwavering  in  her 
devotion,  loyalty,  and  fidelity  to  Christ. 

Born  of  a  typical  aristocratic  southern  family, 
at  one  time  a  daughter  of  wealth,  she  was  naturally 
very  proud,  but  kind  and  affectionate.  After  her 
father's  death,  through  some  designing  agent,  the 
wealth  was  swept  away,  and  she  was  left  to  the 
mercy  of  her  two  half-brothers.  She  was  greatly 
loved  and  favored  by  all  the  older  members  of  the 
family,  and  her  widowed  mother  gave  her  a  most 
guarded  training.  She  did  not  want  for  proper 
discipline,  and  her  devoted  mother  gave  her  all 
the  religious  light  she  herself  had.  Bernie  says, 
"  I  attach  no  blame  to  my  mother's  training,  but 


134  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

like  many  other  poor  girls,  his  Satanic  Majesty 
got  too  strong  hold  on  me,  and  like  a  dew-drop  I 
fell  from  heaven  to  hell." 

Her  fall  was  not  because  of  weakness  of  charac- 
ter or  volition,  as  is  often  the  case.  She  had  an 
iron  will,  and  when  pursuing  her  chosen  subject, 
it  seemed  impossible  to  turn  her  from  it.  Her 
passionate  love  for  books  and  music,  and  her  fixed 
determination  to  spend  her  life  in  teaching  was 
always  apparent.  She  entered  school  at  the  age  of 
four,  and  completed  a  teachers'  course  at  sixteen, 
with  the  one  all-absorbing  ambition  to  teach. 

Her  soul's  interest  was  nothing  to  her,  and  she 
had  little  use  for  the  Bible  or  Christianity.  At 
one  time  she  read  the  Bible  and  with  her  reasoning 
turn  of  mind  thought  she  gave  it  a  fair  test  and 
proved  to  her  satisfaction  that  it  would  not  stand 
the  test  of  reason ;  and  she  became  an  infidel.  But 
this  gave  her  no  satisfaction ;  there  was  always  an 
inexpressible  longing  for  something  she  did  not 
find. 

She  taught  five  years  in  her  home  school,  going 
from  the  primary  to  the  principalship,  successful 
beyond  her  most  sanguine  expectations.  She  had 
several  good  offers  of  marriage,  but  she  refused 
all.  It  was  not  long  till  her  health  failed.  Many 
of  the  best  physicians  were  consulted.  They  all 


BERNIE.  135 

told  her  that  her  only  hope  of  health  was  married 
life.  This  her  whole  being  revolted  from.  She 
cared  only  to  succeed  in  her  chosen  profession. 

Her  life  was  blameless,  and  her  reputation 
untarnished.  She  lived  above  suspicion.  Dancing 
was  the  only  worldly  amusement  she  was  particu- 
larly fond  of,  and  that  was  regarded  in  her  com- 
munity as  perfectly  innocent,  but  has  proved  the 
broadest  and  one  of  the  most  alluring  and  glitter- 
ing roads  to  hell. 

A  rapid  decline  of  health  caused  her  many 
bitter  hours,  and  finally  she  was  held  back  from 
her  work  temporarily.  Being  a  confirmed  infidel 
as  to  a  future  existence,  she  decided  to  commit 
suicide.  No  act  of  her  life  was  more  calmly  and 
deliberately  planned  than  was  this  atrocious 
crime.  She  determined  to  give  her  brother,  who 
was  a  student,  a  minute  description  of  all  the 
effects  and  sensations  caused  by  taking  poison. 
The  drug  was  purchased  and  set  on  the  table  in 
her  room.  She  seated  herself  at  the  table  with 
pencil  and  tablet,  and  addressed  a  letter  to  her 
brother,  telling  him  what  she  was  about  to  do, 
and  that  she  would  describe  all  the  symptoms  and 
sensations  as  they  came  while  consciousness  lasted. 
She  coolly  and  collectedly  swallowed  the  drug, 
and  began  to  write.  She  described  symptom  after 
symptom,  until  finally  she  said,  "My  sight  is  grow- 


136  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ing  dim;  I  can  no  longer  see  the  lines."  and  with 
a  few  irregular  strokes,  showing  a  vigorous 
attempt  to  continue,  she  dropped  the  pencil,  and 
soon  became  unconscious.  After  lying  in  an 
unconscious  state  about  two  hours,  she  partially 
returned  to  consciousness,  and  then  lapsed  back 
to  insensibility,  in  which  state  she  remained  till  7 
A.  M.,  at  which  time  she  was  found  in  her  room 
with  a  death-like  look,  and  jaws  set. 

The  family  physician  was  called,  restoratives 
used,  and  consciousness  returned.  It  was  greatly 
to  her  disappointment  and  dismay.  It  is  very 
clear  that  it  was  only  God  who  held  her  back  from 
death.  Unbelievable  as  it  is,  she  then  resolved  to 
become  some  man's  wife,  in  all  but  name,  and  if 
there  was  any  truth  in  the  physicians,  she  would 
cover  her  tracks,  and  continue  her  life-work  as  a 
teacher. 

She  soon  accepted  a  call  to  teach  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  State,  and  it  was  there  she  met  her 
doom.  Here  she  met  one  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  place.  His  Christianity  was  never  questioned; 
he  was  trusted,  loved,  and  revered  by  all  who 
knew  him.  She  little  thought  that  the  plans 
matured  in  her  heart,  and  of  which  only  God 
knew,  would  be  carried  out  only  too  well  here, 
and  against  her  will.  It  was  while  boarding  in 


BERNIE.  13  7 

his  home  she  was  brought  under  his  strange, 
satanic,  mesmeric  power,  and  led  to  ruin  as  a  lamb 
to  slaughter. 

When  her  ruin  was  accomplished  and  she 
awoke  to  the  situation,  she  was  plunged  into  the 
blackness  and  darkness  of  an  awful  horror.  The 
dreadful  anguish  she  suffered  seemed  unbearable. 
It  would  seem  that  it  took  this  dreadful  misfor- 
tune to  wake  her  to  the  fact  that  she  had  a  soul, 
and  to  the  awfulness  of  sin.  But  O,  how  the  poor 
girl  suffered  now!  When  she  knew  she  must  be 
a  mother,  without  home,  friends,  a  name,  or  quali- 
fication for  such  a  responsibility,  her  grief  became 
terrific.  For  the  first  time  she  felt  she  must  have 
a  God.  If  there  was  a  God  anywhere,  she  must 
have  His  assistance. 

She  began  searching  the  Scriptures.  One  morn- 
ing she  stood  and  looked  at  the  Book  vaguely  for 
a  long  time,  and  wondered  if  after  all  it  were  true. 
She  picked  it  up,  began  to  read,  and  for  nearly 
three  hours  it  held  her  spellbound.  She  was  per- 
fectly fascinated;  the  more  she  read,  the  more 
she  believed,  and  God  was  slowly  but  surely  melt- 
ing her  proud  stubborn  heart. 

A  holy  woman  placed  in  her  hand  a  copy  of  a 
full  salvation  paper,  and  in  this  way  she  heard 
for  the  first  time  in  her  life  of  Rescue  Work.  She 


138  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  common  vice  in  our 
great  cities,  and  was  greatly  puzzled  to  know  what 
could  induce  people  who  had  never  been  down 
to  devote  their  lives  to  the  rescue  of  such  unfor- 
tunate creatures.  The  poor  girl  asked  what  was 
done  with  the  inmates,  and  how  the  Homes  were 
supported.  To  her  utter  astonishment  the  lady 
answered.  "  The  Lord  takes  care  of  them."  This 
almost  staggered  her.  She  said  no  more,  but  felt 
deep  in  her  soul  that  it  was  so.  The  good  lady 
told  her  how  the  Lord  could  sanctify  a  human 
soul  and  keep  it  from  sin.  Again  she  was  shocked, 
but  said  nothing,  and  kept  on  reading  the  Bible. 
The  great  yearning  hunger  to  know  God  grew 
intense. 

The  time  came  for  her  to  go  to  the  hospital, 
and  the  loneliness  of  those  dismal  days  seemed 
unbearable.  She  cried  out,  "  O  God,  you  must 
do  something  for  me."  While  spending  a  night 
with  a  friend,  overwhelmed  with  indescribable 
waves  of  desolation,  she  cried,  "  O  God,  if  there 
is  a  God,  you  must  reveal  yourself  to  me  to-night." 
A  little  real  faith  began  to  spring  up  in  her  heart 
as  she  continued  in  prayer,  until  suddenly,  a  bur- 
den as  the  weight  of  the  world,  rolled  off  her 
soul,  and  the  glory  and  presence  of  God  covered 
her,  until  the  room,  that  was  without  natural  light. 


BERNIE.  139 

was  really  lighted  with  the  radiance  of  His  pres- 
ence.   She  says :  - 

"  I  had  not  slept  for  months,  but  when  I  finished 
my  prayer,  I  fell  asleep,  and  for  twelve  hours 
rested  like  a  child.  I-  returned  to  my  brother's 
home,  and  determined  to  go  to  Chicago;  I  did 
not  know  how  I  could  enter  the  Home;  I  wrote 
to  the  Superintendent  and  asked  him  about  it. 
His  prompt  reply  will  ring  in  my  ears  for  time 
and  eternity.  The  letter  read,  '  Dear  sister,  yes, 
come,  certainly  come'  and  closed  with  the  words, 
'  Your  brother.'  No  words  can  describe  my  aston- 
ishment. For  him  to  address  me  as  '  Dear  sister,' 
and  sign  himself  as  *  Your  brother;'  it  seemed  not 
of  this  world,  but  of  heaven.  When  I  arrived  in 
Chicago,  I  was  met  by  a  missionary  and  conducted 
to  the  Rescue  Home.  Oh,  the  peace  and  quietude 
throughout  the  whole  place!  The  Holy  Spirit 
reigned  supreme,  having  entire  charge  of  all.  It 
was  so  new,  so  sweet,  and  holding  out  such  hope 
to  all!  For  the  first  few  weeks  I  would  not  have 
been  surprised  to  have  met  Christ  face  to  face  in 
any  of  the  rooms.  I  did  not  say  much,  but  with 
keen  scrutiny  I  watched  their  lives,  and  if  I  had 
seen  a  single  act  contrary  to  what  they  professed, 
the  chances  are  I  wrould  never  have  been  sancti- 
fied; but  all  their  practice  corresponded  with  their 


140  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

profession.  Through  all  the  trials  and  severe 
testings,  they  were  kept  by  the  power  of  God." 

Sister  B was  soon  wonderfully  sanctified 

by  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  She  has  gone 
on  commanding  the  respect  and  holding  the  con- 
fidence of  all  who  know  her.  She  is  one  of  our 
most  trusty  and  trusted  assistant  matrons,  giving 
her  soul  and  life  to  the  work  of  lifting  up  the 
fallen.  To  the  God  of  the  Bible  be  all  the  honor 
and  glory  forever. 


LULU    L . 


LULU  L ,  OR  FROM  DRUNKENNESS 

TO  WOMANHOOD. 

LULU  L furnishes  a  marvelous  exception 

to  all  rules  in  a  life  of  sin  and  her  salvation  fur- 
nishes one  of  the  most  extraordinary  exhibitions 
of  grace  we  have  ever  witnessed  in  rescue  work. 
Few  have  ever  gone  so  low  in  sin  and  very  seldom 
has  one  ever  made  such  rapid  strides  in  divine 
grace.  Her  deliverance  is  wonderful  beyond 
description. 

She  was  an  Ohio  girl.  At  eight  years  of  age 
she  was  left  without  a  mother's  love  and  counsel 
and  a  father's  protection.  She  made  a  noble  fight 
for  a  life  of  virtue  and  integrity,  but  the  odds 
were  against  her.  She  had  no  education,  and  every 
possible  advantage  was  taken  of  her.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  she  was  ruined  under  promise  of 
marriage. 

After  she  was  ruined,  she  came  to  the  city  and 
for  two  whole  years  withstood  all  inducements 
to  go  into  a  life  of  open  shame.  But  having  once 
been  down,  the  pressure  was  too  great.  She  finally 
sank  to  rise  no  more  until  Christ  with  His  tender 
touch  lifted  her  from  the  cesspool  of  sin  to  the 
heights  of  redemption.  By  public  picnics,  thea- 

143 


144  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ters,  and  finally  dance-halls,  she  was  led  on  step 
by  step  until  she  was  not  only  a  confirmed  drunk- 
ard and  a  public  character,  but  a  manager  of  a 
house  of  ill-fame. 

At  first  she  drank  not  so  much  for  the  love  of 
liquor,  as  to  keep  equal  with  her  associates,  but  as 
the  steps  in  sin  are  always  downward,  she  rapidly 
grew  worse  and  scores  and  scores  of  times  was 
beastly  drunk.  Her  drunken  debauches  grew  in 
length  and  her  appetite  for  nicotine  became  almost 
vicious,  For  months  at  a  time  she  would  not  draw 
a  sober  breath.  Her  iron  constitution  stood  the 
strain  of  this  awful  life  for  more  than  a  dozen 
years,  while  the  average  life  of  a  woman  in  sin  is 
less  than  half  that  time. 

She  had  no  more  than  crossed  the  threshhold 
of  Hope  Cottage  when  the  Holy  Ghost  put  her 
under  pungent  conviction  for  sin.  She  did  not 
have  to  be  converted  to  abandon  sin.  She  gave 
up  rum  and  tobacco  and  turned  her  back  on  a 
whole  life  of  wickedness  several  days  before  she 
was  saved.  She  says:  "  I  never  desired  rum  or 
tobacco  from  the  hour  I  entered  the  home."  Hear 
it,  you  church  members  who  are  still  using  the 
weed,  waiting  for  light  or  more  conviction.  Re- 
member if  you  are  not  convicted  for  the  use  of 
tobacco,  is  it  not  because  your  heart  is  harder  than 


FROM  DRUNKENNESS  TO  WOMANHOOD.      145 

was  hers?  She  was  not  only  shown  that  it  was 
wrong,  but  she  was  delivered  from  the  appetite 
and  all  desire  for  them  was  taken  away  before  she 
was  converted  at  all.  Brother,  do  you  not  see 
that  if  you  still  use  the  weed,  you  are  not  as  far 
along  as  a  convicted  harlot,  for  she  gladly  gave 
it  up.  She  says :  "  I  hate  rum  and  tobacco." 

Thank  God  she  is  not  only  saved  but  sanctified, 
healed,  and  living  a  most  beautiful,  exemplary 
Christian  life.  The  grace  and  power  of  the  gos- 
pel has  so  changed,  subdued,  and  mellowed  her 
life  that  she  is  a  benediction  to  all  who  come 
under  her  influence.  What  a  miracle  of  heaven! 
What  an  exhibiton  of  divine  grace! 

I  call  on  every  one  who  shall  ever  read  these 
lines  to  aid  me  in  giving  glory  to  God  for  the 
wonderful  display  of  His  power  and  matchless 
mercy.  Praise  the  Lord. 


10 


MABEL,  HER  RUIN  AND  REDEMPTION. 

MABEL  -  -  was  born  in  -  — ,  111.,  of  Metho- 
dist parents,  and  brought  up  in  a  Methodist  Sun- 
day-school—  a  bright,  beautiful  child,  furnishing 
sunshine  and  good  cheer  to  the  home,  and  making 
fine  progress  in  school.  Her  form  was  slight, 
but  well  shaped;  her  face  was  innocent,  beautiful 
and  attractive.  Reared  in  a  country  home,  she 
had  known  nothing  of  the  ways  of  sin.  But  be- 
fore she  was  sixteen,  she  was  permitted  to  keep 
company  and  buggy  ride  late  at  night  with  one 
who  robbed  her  of  her  virtue  and  ruined  her  for 
life. 

If  this  well-dressed  brute  had  cut  her  throat 
from  ear  to  ear,  and  covered  her  body  with  leaves 
in  some  lonely  wooded  spot,  it  would  have  been 
a  great  kindness  compared  with  robbing  her  of 
her  virtue,  smirching  her  fair  name,  and  leaving 
her  with  the  burden  and  responsibility  of  being 
a  mother,  when  she  was  only  a  child  herself. 
Father,  suppose  she  was  your  daughter!  Mother, 
what  if  she  were  your  darling?  How  would  you 
then  feel  toward  those  who  are  ever  planning  the 
ruin  and  overthrow  of  innocent  girls? 

147 


148  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Mabel  came  to  us  at  Rest  Cottage  in  Chicago, 
a  poor  heart-broken  and  discouraged  child,  know- 
ing nothing  of  salvation.  O,  what  a  scene !  Words 
can  never  portray  the  sorrow  and  anguish  of  those 
awful  days.  We  satisfied  ourselves  that  she  had 
never  consented  to  her  terrible  ruin,  and  before 
God  had  never  really  lost  her  innocence  or  virtue, 
and  yet  she  is  the  victim  of  a  shame  that  will  last 
for  all  time.  In  convulsions  of  grief  and  floods 
of  tears,  she  says :  "  I  must  ever  be  treated  as  if 
I  were  guilty." 

What  a  grewsome,  dark  side  there  is  to  sin 
that  the  world  will  never  forgive. 

But  how  transcendently  glorious  it  is  to  know 
that  we  have  a  Christ  who  will  gladly  go  out  of 
His  way  to  forgive  and  forget  the  darkest  sins 
ever  committed,  when  approached  by  a  penitent 
soul.  It  was  not  long  after  she  entered  Rest  Cot- 
tage until  the  dear  child  found  the  Saviour.  It 
was  easy  for  her  hungry,  broken  heart  to  yield 
to  the  touch  of  love,  and  it  was  His  greatest  delight 
to  spring  to  her  side,  blot  out  all  her  sins,  comfort 
and  sustain  her  as  only  a  divine  Christ  can  do. 

Her  name  may  never  be  found  on  the  tablets  of 
Christian  fame,  but  it  is  carved  deep  in  the  hand 
of  the  compassionate  God  of  Love.  By  her  beau- 


MABEL,   HER  RUIN  AND  REDEMPTION.        149 

tiful  spirit  and  Christian  life,  she  has  imbedded 
herself  in  our  affections  forever,  and  as  mission- 
aries and  gospel  workers,  we  shall  never  cease  to 
love  and  stand  by  her. 

Beloved,  if  she  were  your  daughter,  you  would 
never  ask  the  question  again,  "  Does  Rescue  Work 
pay?" 

To  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  the 
glory  forever. 


BERTHA    AND    ESTHER  — THE    TWIN 
SISTERS. 

BERTHA  and  Esther  Huling  are  twins.  Their 
parents  died  when  they  were  very  young,  and 
they  were  placed  in  an  Orphans'  Home.  When 
they  were  only  five  years  old,  a  man  sixty  years  of 
age  took  them  from  the  orphanage  and  raised 
them  for  shame.  He  ruined  them  both  before 
they  were  women.  When  he  saw  that  Bertha  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  was  going  to  become  a  mother, 
the  scoundrel  put  them  on  the  train  at  Ozark, 
Ark.,  and  sent  them  to  Denton,  Texas,  where  they 
were  put  off  the  train,  thinly  clad,  penniless,  help- 
less, and  friendless. 

A  holy  woman  found  them  in  the  street,  the 
picture  of  forlorn  despair.  Our  missionaries  went 
after  them,  and  saved  them  from  drifting  into  a 
house  of  shame,  by  bringing  them  to  Texas  Rest 
Cottage,  at  Pilot  Point,  Texas.  Bertha  was 
blessedly  converted  to  Christ  the  first  night,  and 
Esther  very  soon  gave  her  heart  to  God. 

It  was  my  unspeakable  pleasure  to  be  in  their 
company  and  hear  them  testify  to  the  power  of 
God  to  save.  If  our  Texas  Home  had  never  done 


152  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

more  than  to  save  those  beautiful  children,  it 
would  pay  us  a  thousand  times  over.  But  many 
are  there  who  have  been  wonderfully  saved  and 
sanctified,  and  a  number  have  been  healed  through 
the  prayer  of  faith.  Praise  the  Lord. 


A  SALOONKEEPER'S   DAUGHTER. 

To  save  one  daughter  such  as  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  well  worth  all  the  money  expended 
since  the  movement  was  launched.  She  is  in  her 
nineteenth  year,  and  can  not  remember  when  she 
did  not  drink  strong  drink.  Her  father  was  a 
saloonkeeper,  and  whisky  was  like  water  in  her 
home.  Her  mother  died  when  she  was  nine  years 
old,  and  she  soon  found  herself  in  the  hands  of  a 
heartless  stepmother.  At  the  age  of  eleven  years 
she  was  forced  out  into  this  cold  world  to  earn 
her  own  living  among  strangers.  She  sometimes 
tried  to  do  right;  but  her  earnings  were  taken  to 
support  others  who  were  living  in  sin,  and  she 
received  encouragement  from  no  one. 

Though  she  knew  nothing  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, she  at  one  time  determined  to  reform;  but 
when  she  came  home  and  declared  her  intentions, 
some  of  the  family  made  sport  of  it,  and  her  step- 
mother used  such  abusive  language  and  called 
her  such  vile  names  that  she  turned  away  and  went 
to  drinking  harder  than  before  to  drown  her  sor- 
row. She  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and  was  im- 
prisoned time  and  again.  At  one  time  she  spent 
five  months  and  five  days  in  the  workhouse.  It 


156  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

was  here  she  acquired  the  habit  of  cigarette 
smoking. 

In  the  workhouse  she  was  sick  three  months, 
four  days  unconscious.  The  family  were  notified, 
but  they  refused  to  come  to  see  her,  but  said  she 
might  go  to  hell.  Their  written  message  was  so 
horrific  and  inhuman  that  the  authorities  refused 
to  let  the  poor  girl  know  the  worst.  She  went  in 
an  unmanageable  character,  she  came  out  far 
worse.  She  spent  her  eighteenth  birthday  in  the 
workhouse.  The  last  three  months  before  she 
came  to  Rest  Cottage  she  paid  $120  in  fines,  ob- 
taining her  money  without  work.  The  last  four 
weeks  before  she  was  found  in  the  police  station 
she  had  not  drawn  a  sober  breath.  Now  that  is 
enough  of  the  dark  side  of  her  life,  and  it  is  with 
a  sigh  of  relief  that  I  turn  to  the  bright  side  of 
her  story.  The  moment  she  crossed  the  threshold 
of  this  homelike  "  Home,"  new  hope  sprang  up 
in  her  soul.  It  was  only  a  few  hours  until  she 
gave  her  heart  to  God  and  was  gloriously  con- 
verted. 

In  her  regeneration  all  sinful  desires  and  all 
acquired  unholy  appetities  were  taken  away  ex- 
cept two,  a  thirst  for  drink  and  a  desire  for  dress. 

For  the  past  four  months  she  has  been  a  great 
joy  and  comfort  in  the  Home.  A  few  times  she 


A  SALOONKEEPER'S  DAUGHTER.  157 

failed  to  control  her  temper,  but  in  the  main,  has 
lived  a  beautiful,  exemplary  Christian  life  even 
before  she  was  sanctified  wholly.  She  has  re- 
turned stolen  money  and  articles  of  jewelry,  has 
written  twelve  letters  at  a  time  -making  wrongs 
right,  knowing,  too,  that  some  of  her  confessions 
might  send  her  to  the  state's  prsion,  she  fearlessly 
told  it  all.  It  is  wonderful  how  grace  has  removed 
all  traces  of  sin,  and  her  face  is  radiant  with  heav- 
enly light. 

Since  leaving  the  Home  she  has  married,  and 
we  are  assured  that  she  is  faithfully  doing  her  part 
to  make  home  happy  and  life  worth  living.  God 
bless  her  forever. 


Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn 
of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden 
is  light.  Matt.  1 1 :  28-30. 


MYRTLE. 

MYRTLE  was  the  daughter  of  a  Christian  min- 
ister. Her  father  died  when  she  was  four  years 
of  age.  The  support  of  six  children,  three  of 
them  very  small,  fell  upon  her  grief-stricken 
mother.  When  Myrtle  was  eight  years  old,  she 
was  sent  to  live  with  a  married  sister.  With  but 
few  advantages,  she  grew  to  womanhood.  At 
the  age  of  thirteen  she  was  forced  out  into  this 

C9 

cold  world  to  earn  her  own  living.  Being  indus- 
trious and  ambitious,  she  worked  hard,  returning 
home  only  once  a  year.  In  1903,  broken  in  health, 
she  visited  a  relative  in  Texas.  When  convales- 
cent, she  was  induced  to  take  a  position  as  a  com- 
panion to  a  lady  who  was  an  invalid.  It  was  here 
she  met  the  honored  member  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
who  proved  her  ruin.  He  was  much  older  than 
she,  consequently  she  had  almost  no  conversation 
with  him.  She  says:  — 

"  One  night  I  said  my  prayers  as  usual,  and  fell 
asleep  like  the  innocent  child  I  then  was.  How 
can  I  tell  of  that  awful  moment,  when  this  man, 
crazed  by  drink,  rudely  awakened  me  from  that 
childish  slumber.  The  memory  of  it  can  never 
fade  from  my  mind.  I  wept,  pleaded,  and  even 

i59 


i6o  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

prayed,  but  to  no  avail.  He  told  me  that  if  I 
called  for  help,  they  would  never  believe  me, 
and  powerless  in  his  strength,  I  was  degraded, 
robbed  of  my  virtue,  and  left  in  hopeless  despair, 
desiring  only  to  die. 

"  For  five  weeks  I  was  delirious  almost  all  the 
time,  and  my  conscious  moments  were  indescrib- 
ably awful.  Once  I  took  morphine,  thinking  to 
end  it  all,  but  God  interfered,  and  I  woke  to  the 
bitter  knowledge  that  I  was  still  in  this  world." 

When  she  was  able  to  be  moved,  she  was  sent 
home  to  her  mother.  She  had  succeeded  in  bury- 
ing her  sorrow  in  her  own  heart.  Soon  observing 
she  was  to  become  a  mother,  and  determined  to 
hide  her  disgrace  from  her  people,  she  left  home 
and  wandered  from  place  to  place. 

As  she  was  walking  down  the  street  in  Texar- 
kanna,  Brother  F—  — ,  a  rescue  missionary,  read 
the  lines  of  trouble  in  her  face,  and  asked  if  she 
was  not  in  distress.  At  first  she  denied  it,  and  he, 
apologizing,  was  about  to  pass  on,  when  he  felt 
strangely  led  to  turn  and  speak  to  her  a  second 
time.  And  almost  before  she  realized  what  she 
had  done,  the  secret  which  she  had  concealed 
from  all  others,  was  told  out  to  him. 

He  insisted  on  her  going  to  our  Rescue  Home, 
but  her  pride  resented  the  suggestion.  When  he 


MYRTLE.  161 

had  charged  her  if  she  ever  needed  assistance  to 
write  to  him,  he  passed  on.  It  was  not  long  till 
he  heard  from  her,  and  he  wired  her  a  ticket.  But 
again  the  devil  aroused  her  pride,  and  she  re- 
turned it.  Such  a  war  as  was  waging  in  her  mind! 
Her  sorrow-stricken  heart  was  fairly  reeling 
under  the  awful  load. 

That  same  day  she  met  her  betrayer,  and  told 
him  her  situation.  The  villain,  anxious  to  cover 
his  own  shame  and  infamy,  promised  to  protect 
her.  She  boarded  at  a  first-class  place,  and  kept 
up  the  deceitful  part  of  a  young  lady  on  a  vaca- 
tion, until  at  last  her  early  training,  prompted  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  asserted  itself,  and  she  resented 
the  vile  suggestions  of  this  professed  Christian. 
She  said  to  herself  and  to  him,  "  I  have  never 
willingly  degraded  myself,  and  I  never  shall." 
Here  she  was  thrown  under  the  direst  conviction. 
She  lay  on  her  face  all  night  long,  weeping,  and 
saying  over  and  over,  "  If  God  is  just,  why  has 
He  permitted  me  to  be  disgraced  without  my  con- 
sent, and  exiled  from  all  my  people?  "  Despite 
the  protest  of  the  one  who  should  have  been  will- 
ing for  her  to  do  right,  she  determined  to  find  God 
if  possible,  and  came  to  the  Rescue  Home.  She 
says,  "  When  I  entered  the  Home,  and  Sister  Mil- 
ler took  me  in  her  arms  and  I  laid  my  weary  head 
ii 


162  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

just  where  I  used  to  rest  it  on  mother's  shoulder, 
I  would  not  have  left  the  Home  for  millions  of 
money.  God  wonderfully  saved  and  sanctified 
me.  In  about  three  months  my  precious  little  one 
was  born,  and  in  one  short  week  God  took  her 
from  my  arms  to  His  beautiful  home  in  heaven. 
Now  that  my  darling  is  in  heaven,  I  have  only 
Jesus  to  live  for." 

This  noble,  brave  girl  is  making  a  valiant  sol- 
dier of  the  cross,  and  is  battling  for  God  and  souls. 
I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  for  it 
is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
rhat  believeth.  Praise  the  Lord. 


'PETE'S   PLACE"  -A   LOW   DIVE. 

PETE'S  PLACE  is  one  of  the  most  notorious  dives 
in  the  precincts  of  sin  on  the  West  Side.  His 
saloon,  or  barrel  house,  has  a  brothel  in  the  rear, 
and  an  opium  den  in  the  basement.  To  approach 
this  place  at  high  noon  is  not  without  danger;  for 
here  murders  are  common.  It  has  been  said  they 
average  about  one  a  week;  but  it  is  about  mid- 
night when  our  missionaries  come  into  this  haunt 
of  vice  and  crime.  A  number  of  poor  unfortunate 
girls  are  crouching  in  the  rear  of  this  dark,  dismal 
den.  In  their  midst  is  a  woman,  the  most  prom- 
inent figure  in  the  company, —  no,  not  a  woman, 
one  who  has  drifted  through  stratum  after  stratum 
of  the  vilest  society,  until  she  has  reached  depths 
of  sin,  degradation,  and  crime,  where  womanhood 
is  entirely  forgotten. 

As  soon  as  the  missionaries  approached  the 
little  group  of  girls,  this  vicious  character  came 
rushing  to  them,  and  struck  one  of  them  in  the 
stomach  with  her  clenched  fist,  then  with  a  wild 
look,  rushed  madly  to  the  other  one,  and  gave  her 
a  stunning  blow  in  her  face.  The  saloonkeeper 
and  his  wife  sought  to  appease  her  anger,  and 
avert  her  assaults,  but  she  was  not  easily  turned 

165 


166  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

aside  from  her  purpose.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
but  that  just  here  an  unseen  presence  stepped  in 
and  protected  the  lives  of  those  missionaries  of 
the  Cross. 

They  were  not  frightened,  and  did  not  turn 
from  their  purpose,  but  after  talking  salvation  to 
the  girls,  and  distributing  some  tracts  and  gospel 
papers  among  them,  they  felt  led  to  take  hold  of 
one  drunken  girl,  and  take  her  bodily  out  of  this 
den  of  sin,  and  this  they  did  under  the  most  fero- 
cious protest  of  this  angered  woman.  She  fol- 
lowed them  to  the  door,  and  did  all  in  her  power 
to  prevent  their  rescue  of  this  poor  girl. 

They  assisted  the  unfortunate  specimen  to  the 
elevated  station;  they  literally  dragged  her  up 
the  stairs,  and  into  the  train,  where  they  found 
the  car  filled  with  Nabob  passengers  of  Oak  Park, 
who  were  returning  from  the  late  theaters.  She 
was  intoxicated  just  enough  to  furnish  sport  for 
the  passengers,  who  were  inclined  to  make  the 
most  of  the  occasion.  But  when  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries passed  about  among  them,  gave  out  the 
booklet  called,  "  Four  Sermons  on  Hell,"  told 
them  about  the  Rescue  Home,  and  about  what 
they  were  doing  for  such  unfortunate  women,  the 
crowd  soon  sobered  down. 


"  PETE'S  PLACE  "  -  A  LOW  DIVE.         167 

Mary  (for  that  was  her  name)  lodged  in  Rest 
Cottage,  soon  sobered  off,  and  was  gloriously 
saved.  This  is  what  we  call  pulling  people  out 
of  the  fire,  and  again  we  glorify  God  for  the  grace 
and  power  of  the  gospel  in  the  slums. 


JULIA. 


JULIA. 

THE  strange  and  thrilling  story  of  the  life  of 
Julia  is  almost  unbelievable.  But  we  have  satis- 
fied ourselves  that  it  is  all  true,  and  much  more 
than  we  shall  attempt  to  record.  She  was  first  to 
enter  Hope  Cottage  as  a  guest. 

When  it  became  known  to  the  citizens  of  Mount 
Auburn,  of  Cincinnati,  that  the  property  now 
known  as  "  Hope  Cottage  "  had  been  purchased 
to  be  used  as  a  home  for  erring  girls,  our  enemies 
were  enraged,  and  an  injunction  was  placed  on 
the  property  to  prevent  our  opening  it.  Never 
will  I  forget  the  first  time  when  I  prayed  with 
this  homeless,  friendless  girl.  It  was  while  we 
were  waiting  for  the  trial  to  come  off,  or  the  lift- 
ing of  the  injunction.  We  had  no  place  for  her 
except  a  little  corner  curtained  off  in  one  of  the 
large  rooms,  then  the  dining-room  of  the  Bible 
School. 

No  such  institution  can  ever  be  launched  with- 
out facing  regiments  of  living  foes.  We  felt  the 
energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  urging  us  on  to  disre- 
gard the  restrictions,  and  open  and  dedicate  the 
home.  The  day  was  set,  the  doors  were  unlocked, 
and  Julia  entered  this  place  of  blessing.  From 

169 


1 70  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

the  hour  the  doors  were  opened  the  place  has 
been  one  of  great  grace,  power,  and  glory.  If 
the  injunction  was  ever  lifted,  I  have  never  been 
so  informed,  but  the  power  and  glory  of  God  has 
been  so  great  and  the  success  so  phenomenal  with 
this  restriction  hanging  over  us  that  I  would  be 
afraid  to  ask  for  its  removal. 

Julia  was  born  in  Springfield,  111.  Her  father 
was  not  only  a  notorious  drunkard,  but  vicious 
and  brutal  in  his  family.  She  was  the  youngest  of 
five  children,  and  was  often  frightened  by  his 
cursing  and  fighting,  and  sometimes  shooting  or 
using  a  knife.  When  she  was  four  years  old,  her 
mother,  her  only  friend,  was  seized  by  a  fatal  sick- 
ness, and,  on  account  of  the  drunkenness  and  abuse 
of  her  father,  she  was  taken  away  from  home  and 
then  buried  by  strangers.  Julia  grew  up  without 
education,  and  felt  most  keenly  the  loss  of  her 
mother.  In  her  father's  drunken  sprees  he  seemed 
determined  to  take  Julia's  life,  and  it  was  often 
with  great  effort  he  was  restrained. 

As  she  grew  up,  she  was  often  without  shoes  or 
decent  clothing.  He  would  mortify  the  poor  girl 
by  compelling  her  to  wear  her  stepmother's  old 
shoes,  which  were  very  broad,  and  entirely  too 
large.  When  but  a  child  of  thirteen  or  fourteen, 
she  was  compelled  to  go  out  and  do  heavy  wash- 


JULIA.  *7i 

ings  for  a  living.  She  was  a  strong  girl,  and 
would  wash  and  iron  all  day  for  fifty  cents,  and 
at  night  she  would  be  so  tired  it  seemed  she  could 
hardly  get  home,  and  then  only  to  be  cursed  and 
abused  by  a  drunken  father.  She  went  on  in  this 
way  until  her  health  gave  way,  and  she  became  a 
great  sufferer.  She  could  no  longer  do  heavy 
work,  and,  discouraged  and  heart-broken,  she  said, 
"  I  must  make  a  living." 

Nothing  seemed  to  open  to  her  but  a  life  of  sin. 
She  deplored  such  a  life,  and  her  whole  being 
revolted  from  it.  But  what  was  she  to  do?  There 
was  no  one  to  lend  a  helping  hand;  there  was  no 
one  even  to  advise  her,  or  care  what  she  did.  It 
was  thus  she  was  forced  into  the  paths  of  shame. 
She  had  inherited  from  her  father  an  appetite 
for  strong  drink,  but  did  not  know  it  until  she 
had  taken  her  first  glass,  which  aroused  her  slum- 
bering appetite  and  fired  her  whole  being  with 
a  burning  thirst  which  couW  not  be  satisfied,  and 
was  never  absent  until  three  years  ago,  when  Jesus 
saved  her  and  took  away  all  unholy  appetites. 

When  once  down,  she  was  soon  smoking  and 
drinking  to  awful  excess,  and  though  she  had  a 
horror  for  the  brothel,  and  during  the  fifteen  years 
she  spent  in  sin  she  had  her  own  private  rooms, 
and  never  went  on  the  streets  to  solicit  patronage, 


172  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

or  even  dressed  in  an  immodest  way.  The  gaudy 
attractive  attire  worn  by  sporting  girls  generally 
was  distasteful  to  her,  and  no  one  would  ever  sus- 
picion from  her  appearance  that  she  was  living 
in  sin.  Her  visitors  were  all  known  and  well-re- 
spected business  men,  generally  married  men,  and 
often  with  an  excellent  wife  and  grown  daughter 
at  home.  This  awful  condition  of  things  is  com- 
ing into  practice  more  and  more,  and  is  now  very 
common.  She  seldom  received  strange  callers, 
never  unless  they  appeared  as  perfect  gentlemen, 
but  the  steps  of  sin  are  always  downward,  and 
Julia  soon  became  a  confirmed  drunkard,  and  for 
ten  years  she  was  hardly  ever  sober,  day  or  night. 
When  she  was  not  too  much  intoxicated,  she 
was  under  conviction  for  sin;  but  this  only  added 
to  her  torment,  for  she  did  not  understand  it  until 
after  she  was  converted.  She  was  without  any 
knowledge  as  to  how  to  get  saved.  She  would 
weep  and  groan  and  wish  a  thousand  times  that 
she  was  dead.  She  finally  came  to  Cincinnati, 
and  was  five  months  in  a  sporting  house.  She 
underwent  serious  operations  in  the  hospital  at 
least  four  times,  and  when  she  would  go  on  the 
table  she  would  be  so  in  hopes  that  she  would  die 
in  the  operation  that  it  would  make  her  really 
happy.  She  knew  she  would  go  to  hell,  but  she 


JULIA.  173 

felt  so  sure  that  hell  was  not  so  bad  as  the  life  she 
was  living  that  she  longed  for  the  change.  When 
she  would  return  to  consciousness,  she  would  be 
so  discouraged  that  she  would  be  for  days  filled 
with  sadness.  This  repeated  over  and  over,  she 
determined  to  kill  herself  by  drinking,  and  many 
a  time  she  would  drink  until  she  was  unconscious, 
with  the  hope  she  would  die  intoxicated. 

After  spending  many  a  night  in  an  unconscious 
state,  and  always  coming  out  greatly  disappointed, 
she  determined  to  commit  suicide  by  drinking 
poison.  She  was  drinking  in  a  saloon  when  the 
thought  seized  her  that  this  was  the  opportunity. 
She  ran  across  the  street  to  a  drug  store,  secured 
morphine,  and  swallowed  it  before  any  one  dis- 
covered the  object  she  had  in  view.  She  was  soon 
unconscious,  and  fell  on  the  sidewalk  as  dead, 
and  was  carried  into  a  house,  supposed  to  be  a 
corpse.  But  it  was  discovered  there  was  still  life 
in  her  body.  Those  in  charge  used  such  means 
as  threw  her  into  paroxysms  of  vomiting,  and  next 
morning  at  eight  o'clock  she  returned  to  con- 
sciousness, greatly  to  her  dismay  and  discourage- 
ment. 

When  she  would  walk  the  streets,  merely  to 
pass  a  church  would  put  her  under  such  conviction 
that  she  would  cry  and  wring  her  hands,  and  some- 


174  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

times  almost  go  wild.  At  the  age  of  twenty-five 
she  was  married,  but  her  husband  was  worse  than 
a  brute,  and  would  club  and  beat  her  until  he 
was  arrested  again  and  again.  Sometimes  he 
would  beat  her  almoti:  to  death;  she  would  be 
weeks  recovering  from  her  injuries,  and  yet  she 
went  on  in  her  drunken  career  until  she  reached 
the  place  where,  if  whisky  or  strong  drink  could 
not  be  secured,  the  hot  water  would  rise  in  her 
mouth,  and  the  torture  was  something  indescrib- 
able. It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  undertake  to 
picture  the  feelings  of  torment  of  one  who  is 
afflicted  with  the  appetite  for  strong  drink. 

The  average  life  of  a  woman  in  sin  is  little  more 
than  five  years ;  but  here  is  one  with  such  a  strong 
constitution  that  she  has  struggled  through  almost 
fifteen  years  of  indescribable  anguish  and  sorrow. 
When  she  was  brought  to  us,  she  was  not  only 
soaked  with  rum,  morphine,  and  nicotine,  but 
her  mind  seemed  impaired,  and  her  will  was  so 
weakened  that  she  was  powerless  almost  as  an 
infant. 

It  was  in  this  condition  that  Jesus  found  her, 
and  that  God  for  Christ's  sake  forgave  all  her 
sins.  The  transformation  began  at  once  not  only 
in  her  heart  but  in  her  face  and  life.  The  work 


JULIA.  175 

of  Christ  has  gone  on  with  greater  rapidity  than 
did  the  work  of  sin,  and  if  her  awful  black  record 
was*  a  miracle  of  hell,  her  present  condition  is  a 
most  marvelous  miracle  of  grace.  She  has  been 
delivered  not  only  from  rum  and  tobacco,  but 
morphine,  and  all  desire  for  uncleanness,  and  is 
to-day  a  noble  exemplary  Christian,  and  a  great 
benediction  to  all  who  are  in  the  home,  scattering 
sunshine  to  all  who  come  and  go. 

Her  body  is  so  wrecked  that  she  had  no  desire 
to  get  well,  and  for  a  long  time  no  one  seemed  to 
have  faith  for  her  restoration  to  health.  We  are 
told  that  one  lung  is  entirely  gone  and  the  other 
much  reduced.  How  she  lives  at  all  seems  a  mys- 
tery, but  she  does  live  and  lives  beautifully  to  the 
glory  of  God.  Her  heart  is  as  tender  as  a  child's, 
and  her  head  a  fountain  of  tears.  She  weeps  over 
the  lost,  fasts  and  prays  for  the  unsaved,  and  God 
has  made  her  a  real  soul  winner.  Sometimes  we 
have  thought  the  Lord  would  translate  her  soon, 
and  then  she  would  recover  her  strength,  and  go 
on  working  and  smiling  for  the  Lord. 

Sometime  ago  she  sent  me  the  following  mes- 
sage: "Brother  Rees,  I  want  you  to  preach  my 
funeral  sermon,  and  I  don't  want  it  like  other 
funerals.  I  want  it  to  be  a  praise  meeting,  and 


1 76  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

a  meeting  to  give  glory  to  God  and  the  gospel  to 
the  unsaved." 

The  influence  of  her  life  and  the  grace  she  has 
manifested  during  the  last  two  years  will  be  as 
lasting  as  eternity  itself. 


A  GLIMPSE  INTO  THE  SLUMS. 

A  Tramp  Converted. —  Many  have  thought  it 
was  money  thrown  away  to  give  a  poor  tramp  a 
night's  lodging,  even  if  he  professed  to  get  saved, 
but  when  a  poor,  friendless,  penniless  bum  bowed 
at  our  altar  there  was  little  in  sight  to  hope  from. 
A  night's  lodging  cost  only  ten  cents,  and  with  it 
a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  roll,  so  we  gave  him  a  ticket. 
The  next  day  he  hunted  work,  but  found  none, 
but  at  the  mission  he  testified  to  a  new-found  joy, 
which  eclipsed  all  he  had  ever  known.  We  of- 
fered him  another  lodging,  to  which  he  replied: 
"  I  will  pay  it  all  back  when  I  get  work."  The 
next  day  he  found  work,  and  on  his  first  pay  day 
brought  the  twenty  cents  to  pay  for  the  two  nights' 
shelter  from  the  cold.  From  the  first  hour  he  has 
gone  straight  on  as  an  earnest  Christian.  Reader, 
do  you  think  this  was  a  poor  investment?  Have 
you  your  money  invested  where  it  brings  better 
returns? 

The  saints  from  all  over  the  land  have  sent  us 
tons  of  cast-off  clothing.  They  come  to  the  Res- 
cue Home  in  barrels  and  boxes,  and  then  must  be 
carried  in  bundles  to  be  distributed  among  the 
worthy  poor. 

179 


i8o  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Clothing  Distributed. —  Two  of  our  saved 
young  men  were  aiding  the  missionaries  one 
wintry  day,  in  distributing  the  bundles.  They 
each  had  two  large  bundles  strapped  on  their 
backs  and  a  great  package  under  each  arm.  On 
attempting  to  board  an  electric  car  with  these 
loads,  the  conductor  said,  "  You  can  not  get  on 
this  car  with  all  that  freight,"  to  which  the 
young  man  replied,  "  I  am  taking  this  to  the 
poor  suffering  people,  and  you  ought  to  let  me 
ride."  The  conductor  said:  "Certainly,  get  on 
here,  and  when  you  dispose  of  what  you  have, 
come  to  my  house  and  I  will  give  you  a  lot  more," 
So  he  took  the  conductor's  address,  and  gained 
another  bundle.  Brother,  are  you* dead  enough 
to  go  along  the  streets  with  great  bundles  on  your 
back  for  the  Lord's  poor? 

A  Prayer  of  Thanksgiving. — When  Jim  - 
was  saved  in  our  mission,  he  had  nothing  but  rags 
and  vermin.  A  box  of  cast-off  clothing  was 
opened,  and  he  was  soon  fitted  out  from  top  to 
toe.  They  were  only  such  as  many  of  my  readers 
have  thrown  away,  but  when  the  garments  were 
handed  him  he  rolled  them  up  in  a  bundle  and 
laid  them  down  on  the  mission  floor,  and  got  down 
on  his  knees  by  the  bundle  and  prayed  and  thanked 
God  for  them.  It  was  a  most  touching  sight. 


A  GLIMPSE  INTO  THE  SLUMS.  181 

A  Sad  Death.- — Our  missionaries  failed  to  find 
this  poor  family  among  the  starving  and  shiver- 
ing of  Chicago.  Three  little  children  were  de- 
pending upon  an  old  grandfather  for  support. 
He  had  exhausted  his  means  and  all  efforts  to  se- 
cure fuel  had  failed.  It  was  zero  weather,  and  al- 
most night.  A  blinding  storm  was  raging.  The 
old  man  bundled  up  as  best  he  could  and  left  the 
shivering  little  ones  in  the  house  while  he  started 
down  the  railroad  track  to  see  if  he  could  pick 
up  a  few  pieces  of  coal  to  make  a  blaze.  Blinded 
by  the  flying  snow,  he  failed  to  see  the  limited  ex- 
press and  was  instantly  hurled  into  eternity.  If 
some  one  could  have  taken  them  a  hod  of  coal, 
and  have  told  him  about  Jesus  and  His  power  to 
save,  this  life  might  have  been  redeemed  and  the 
children  saved  this  awful  sorrow. 

In  Danger  of  Freezing. — A  young  man  who 
had  walked  the  streets  seeking  work  until  it 
seemed  that  he  would  freeze,  determined  that 
shelter  of  some  kind  he  must  have.  He  made  just 
enough  of  an  attempt  to  rob  a  paint  store  to  get 
arrested.  In  court  he  said:  "It  is  cold,  and  I 
might  as  well  be  in  jail  as  freeze  to  death  hunting 
work."  He  said  to  the  jury:  "  It  is  my  first  time 
in  jail,  but  I  do  not  like  to  freeze."  Think  of  it  in 
a  city  like  Chicago,  boasting  that  she  has  just  ex- 


1 82  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

pended  fourteen  million  dollars  for  Christmas 
presents,  and  yet  thousands  suffer  with  cold  and 
hunger  and  their  souls  are  perishing  for  the  bread 
and  water  of  eternal  life.  Beloved,  pray  that  God 
may  touch  the  hearts  of  those  who  have,  that  they 
may  give  to  those  that  have  not,  and  that  He  will 
send  more  divinely  qualified  missionaries. 

Converted  on  the  Street. — A  party  of  our  mis- 
sionaries were  doing  midnight  work  in  the  slums. 
They  met  a  young  man  nineteen  years  old  on  the 
street.  They  told  him  about  Jesus.  Conviction 
seized  him,  and  they  all  knelt  down  on  their  knees 
on  the  sidewalk,  and  the  boy  gave  his  heart  to 
God.  A  few  days  later,  one  of  the  missionaries 
was  walking  the  street,  when  a  young  man  hailed 
her  and  said,  "  Don't  you  remember  me?  "  "  No," 
replied  the  missionary,  "  I  do  not  remember  you." 
"  I  am  the  boy  that  was  converted  on  the  street  at 
midnight."  He  had  a  job,  and  was  rejoicing  in 
his  new-found  life. 

A  Detective  Converted. — A  detective  came 
down  to  the  mission  one  night  to  secure  the  arrest 
of  a  certain  criminal.  He  was  a  fine-looking  gen- 
tleman, with  a  Prince  Albert  coat  and  beaver  hat. 
During  the  sermon,  the  Holy  Ghost  arrested  him. 
When  the  altar  call  was  made,  he  bowed  at  the 
penitent  form  and  gave  his  heart  to  God,  and  giv- 


A  GLIMPSE  INTO  THE  SLUMS.  183 

ing  his  testimony  he  said :  "  I  came  in  here  to  make 
an  arrest,  but  the  Holy  Ghost  has  arrested  me," 
and  in  that  one  service  he  was  arrested,  convicted, 
pardoned,  and  set  free. 

A  Fireman  Saved.- — A  fireman  of  a  railroad 
locomotive  came  into  the  mission  one  night.  The 
power  of  the  gospel  put  him  under  such  convic- 
tion that  he  fell  at  the  altar,  but  knew  not  how  to 
pray.  When  asked  to  cry  out  to  God,  he  said:  "  I 
never  prayed  in  my  life;  I  do  not  know  how  to 
pray  only  that  little  prayer  my  mother  taught  me." 
We  said,  "  Well,  pray  that."  He  prayed,  "  Now 
I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,  I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul 
to  keep ;  if  I  should  die  before  I  wake,  I  pray  the 
Lord  my  soul  to  take;  "  and  while  he  was  praying 
that  prayer,  the  Lord  converted  him,  and  he  rose 
up  and  testified  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 


LUCY. 


LUCY,  A  WHITE  SLAVE. 

LUCY  was  born  of  religious  parents,  and  reared 
in  a  Christian  home.  Her  father  and  mother 
loved  her  fondly.  She  was  a  beautiful  girl,  with 
fair,  clear  complexion,  rosy  cheeks,  and  hair  al- 
most golden.  Her  life  was  so  guarded  that  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  she  knew  almost  nothing  of  the  ways 
of  sin,  and  was  ignorant  of  the  wiles  of  Satan.  At 
this  age  her  parents  moved  from  the  Hoosier  state 
to  Chicago.  As  they  were  in  limited  circum- 
stances, she  sought  employment,  that  she  might 
aid  in  the  support  of  the  family.  Her  eyes  fell  on 
an  advertisement  in  the  newspaper,  "  Girls 
wanted."  She  was  out  looking  for  employment, 
and  on  her  way  home  a  man  about  thirty  years  old 
met  her  on  the  street,  who  asked  her  a  number  of 
questions,  which  she,  child-like,  answered.  At- 
tracted by  her  beautiful  face,  he  determined  to 
capture  her  for  a  life  of  sin.  The  villain  that  he 
was  wore  good  clothes,  was  of  fair  speech,  and 
with  flattering  words  made  a  number  of  proposi- 
tions, all  of  which  she  resented;  but  finally  he  of- 
fered her  such  inducements  and  made  her  such 
promises  of  nice  clothes  and  a  beautiful  home, 

'85 


1 86  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS, 

etc.,  that  she  went  with  him  to  see  the  place.  He 
took  her  to  a  room  over  a  saloon,  where  he  himself 
was  bartender.  When  she  was  once  inside  the 
room,  the  door  was  locked,  and  the  poor  girl  was 
ruined.  For  two  days  and  nights  the  child  was 
locked  in  that  room,  with  nothing  to  eat  except 
one  small  steak  and  a  few  raw  oysters.  There 
were  two  men  who  had  access  to  her  room,  and 
she  had  no  way  of  escape.  She  had  not  the  re- 
motest idea  when  she  went  that  she  was  going  into 
sin. 

On  the  third  day  she  was  removed  to  a  negro 
sporting  house,  and  placed  in  the  charge  of  a 
negro  madam,  and  was  instructed  to  receive  call- 
ers, white  or  black,  and  turn  the  proceeds  over  to 
the  villain  wrho  had  placed  her  in  this  house  of 
shame.  He  told  her  if  she  did  not  obey  his  in- 
structions he  would  shoot  her,  and  thus  the  girl 
suffered  untold  agony. 

God  must  have  touched  the  madam's  heart,  for 
next  morning  she  made  it  possible  for  the  poor 
girl  to  escape.  As  soon  as  she  was  out  of  the  house, 
she  fairly  ran  to  an  officer  and  told  him  her  story. 
She  was  at  oace  taken  to  jail,  and  there  held  for 
three  weeks.  She  herself  was  tried  under  the 
charge  of  running  away  from  home,  and  then  held 


LUCY,  A  WHITE  SLAVE.  187 

• 

as  a  witness  against  the  two  men  who  had  ruined 
her.  Five  times  the  child  was  taken  into  court 
and  compelled  to  tell  the  whole  story.  The  attor- 
ney on  the  opposite  side  did  all  he  could  in  cross- 
questioning  her  to  destroy  her  testimony,  but  she 
told  it  the  same  every  time,  and  with  such  frank 
open  face  and  clear,  firm  voice  that  she  won  the 
confidence  and  sympathy  of  all  the  officers.  In 
the  fifth  and  last  trial  something  had  to  be  done 
with  the  girl.  Just  as  the  judge  was  giving  the 
sentence  to  five  and  one-half  years  in  the  reform 
school,  two  of  our  missionaries  stepped  up  and 
asked  the  Court  to  send  her  to  Rest  Cottage.  The 
judge  first  asked  a  few  questions,  then  said,  "  Yes, 
I  know  that  place,"  and  within  ten  minutes  she  was 
turned  over  to  us.  Within  two  days  after  she  en- 
tered Rest  Cottage,  she  was  gloriously  converted 
to  Christ.  She  wrote  to  her  heart-broken  mother 
that  she  was  saved,  and  the  joy  in  that  home  is 
simply  indescribable. 

It  is  truly  wonderful  what  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  will  do.  To  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost  be  all  the  glory  forever.  Lucy  was  most 
congenial  in  the  home,  gave  the  matron  no  trouble, 
and  received  most  remarkable  answers  to  prayer. 
When  she  was  returned  to  her  heart-broken 


1 88  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

-      * 

mother,  she  bore  the  impress  of  heaven  upon  her 
face,  and  the  message  of  salvation  upon  her  lips. 
She  is  now  teaching  a   Sunday  School  class  of 
.nineteen  scholars. 

Let  everything  that  hath  breath  join  us  in  prais- 
ing the  Lord  for  His  matchless  grace,  and  the 
marvelous  manifestations  of  power  in  the  rescue 
and  salvation  of  this  precious  daughter. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

"  I  AM  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  for 
it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  believeth."  Romans  i :  16. 

We  are  deeply  touched  with  the  words  we  have 
just  heard  (a  touching  rescue  song  which  has  just 
been  sung)  ;  but  my  heart  leaps  with  joy  when  I 
remember  that  Christ  is  able  to  save  from  the 
worst  of  sin,  from  all  vice,  crime,  and  iniquity  of 
every  kind;  that  there  are  no  cases  so  hopeless  but 
that  this  gospel  may  reach  them,  and,  if  they  will 
turn  to  God,  they  may  be  saved.  It  is  man,  not 
God,  that  grades  sin.  In  the  sight  of  God,  sin 
is  sin;  and  it  is  awful;  and  it  is  all  awful.  Sin  is 
as  black  as  hell  from  whence  it  came.  God  with 
His  great  heart  of  compassion  makes  no  differ- 
ence. "  We  have  all  sinned  and  come  short  of 
the  glory  of  God;"  but  He  has  loved  us  and  given 
His  Son  for  us,  and  Christ  has  laid  down  His  life 
that  we  might  be  saved.  This  is  a  great  comfort 
to  us  in  these  days  when  there  are  so  many  people 
and  so  many  nice  people  that  object  to  the  truth, 
and  turn  away  from  the  gospel,  and  do  not  want 
to  be  saved.  Thank  God,  the  poor  outcast,  the 
hungry,  the  people  that  are  down  and  can  not  get 

191 


192  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

up,  God  loves  them,  Jesus  died  for  them  and  wants 
to  save  them.  It  was  when  I  had  no  one  to  help  me 
that  God  took  me  in.  I  used  to  weep  and  wring 
my  hands  and  run  my  fingers  through  my  hair 
and  walk  through  the  woods  and  look  up  through 
the  twinkling  stars  and  wonder  and  weep  and  sob 
and  there  seemed  to  be  no  hope,  but  when  I 
turned  to  Christ,  He  saved  me;  all  glory  to  His 
namel 

We  are  greatly  comforted  this  morning  to  know 
that  we  have  a  gospel  that  is  able  to  reach  the 
deepest  depths  of  sin,  vice,  and  crime,  as  well  as 
the  highest  mountains  of  pride  and  rebellion 
against  God.  These  are  times  when  God  seems 
to  take  great  pleasure  in  saving  people  that  nobody 
else  would  think  is  worth  saving.  The  Lord  is 
delighted  to  take  in  poor  wandering  outcasts,  dis- 
couraged, disappointed  as  many  of  us  have  been. 
I  remember  going  to  bed  many  and  many  a  time 
realizing  if  I  should  die  before  morning  I  would 
wake  up  in  hell.  I  supposed  this  was  the  only 
possible  result.  I  did  not  suppose  there  was  a 
way  for  a  wretched  man  like  me  to  be  saved. 
Sometimes  I  became  in  a  manner  contented  with 
the  situation  and  thought  if  I  was  in  hell  it  could 
not  be  much  worse  than  this.  I  was  without  God 
and  without  hope  in  the  world,  but  thank  God, 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  193 

this  gospel  was  preached  to  me,  I  heard  about 
the  Christ  who  could  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that 
come  unto  God  by  Him.  He  saved  me,  and  this 
is  why  my  life  is  given  to  the  salvation  of  others. 
This  is  why  I  seek  especially  the  neglected;  the 
people  that  other  folks  turn  from  and  I  somehow 
feel  God  has  called  me  to  give  them  special  atten- 
tion. The  churches  do  not  care  for  them  and 
many  think  they  are  not  savable,  but  the  gospel 
of  my  text  can  reach  the  worst. 

A  few  years  ago  I  preached  in  the  slums  of  New 
York.  One  morning  there  were  twenty-eight  girls 
sat  in  front  of  me,  twenty-six  of  whom  were  con- 
firmed drunkards.  I  preached  this  gospel  in  a 
very  simple  way,  telling  of  the  love  of  Jesus  and 
His  power  to  save  and  twenty-four  out  of  the 
twenty-eight  girls  turned  to  God  and  seemed 
clearly  converted  to  Christ.  Where  else  can  you 
get  that  proportion  of  the  unsaved  to  turn  to  God? 
You  must  go  to  the  slums  where  people  are  tired 
of  sin  to  reap  anything  like  a  large  harvest. 

God  is  moving  mightily  in  these  days  to  pick 
up  anybody  that  will  leave  sin  and  turn  to  Him. 
A  great  deal  of  time  and  money  is  spent  on  people 
who  do  not  seem  to  want  the  Lord.  There  is  so 
much  begging  and  pleading  with  people  to  get 
them  to  come  and  seek  the  Lord  and  then  so  much 
13 


194  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

of  the  religious  effort  and  labor  of  our  evangelists 
is  spent  in  reclaiming  backsliders  over  and  over 
again.  Why  do  we  not  push  out  to  where  people 
really  want  God?  I  know  of  places  where  if  you 
tell  them  of  a  Saviour's  love,  they  will  break  down 
and  cry  like  children,  fall  on  their  faces  and  ask 
God  for  Christ's  sake  to  forgive  them. 

We  ought  to  find  out  where  God  is  giving  His 
special  attention  and  go  there.  Our  hearts  ought 
to  be  so  like  His,  that  we  will  run  where  He  runs 
and  that  we  will  pass  by  the  people  that  He  passes 
over,  that  we  will  lift  up  people  that  He  is  trying 
to  lift.  God  purposes  that  we  shall  select,  in  these 
last  days,  those  who  will  accept  His  grace,  obey 
His  voice,  and  honor  His  name  forever,  and  He 
wants  us  to  steer  clear  of  the  multitudes  of  relig- 
ionists who  do  not  want  Christ,  who  do  not  want 
experimental  religion  and  do  not  purpose  in  their 
hearts  to  obey  God  and  keep  His  commandments. 
My  heart  goes  out  to  the  poor,  unfortunate,  home- 
less, fallen  men  and  women,  whom  Satan  is  seek- 
ing to  destroy,  for  I  know  that  Jesus  loves  them 
and  God  can  save  them. 

You  meet  a  tramp  on  the  street,  and  many  a 
time  there  is  a  heart  beneath  those  rags  that  is 
tired  of  sin;  a  heart  that  is  discouraged;  a  heart 
that  wants  to  know  something  better.  Many  of 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  195 

them  have  been  educated,  have  filled  places  of 
trust,  many  of  them  have  been  members  of  respect- 
able families,  but  they  have  lost  their  footing,  and 
have  gone  down  and  down,  and  if  you  will  go  to 
the  lowest  dregs  of  society  to-day,  you  will  find 
thousands  that  came  from  the  best  walks  of  life, 
humanly  speaking.  College-bred  men  who  have 
had  everything  that  heart  could  wish,  but  they 
have  gone  down  and  lost  all  hope.  Thank  God, 
there  is  a  gospel  that  will  save  them;  there  is 
power  in  Jesus  Christ,  His  blood  can  cleanse 
from  all  sin. 

A  few  years  ago  I  preached  in  a  certain  north- 
ern city,  known  for  its  sin  and  vice  and  crime  - 
a  rum-soaked,  priest-ridden  city.  The  preachers 
met  again  and  again  to  discuss  ways  and  means 
to  reach  the  masses  with  the  gospel.  Long, 
flowery  essays  were  read,  speeches  made,  and 
everything  suggested  but  the  real  old-fashioned 
gospel  and  nothing  was  accomplished.  In  that 
city  was  an  old  disreputable  theater  —  a  licen- 
tious, filthy  old  place  that  would  hold  eight  hun- 
dred or  one  thousand  people;  and  there  was  a 
drunken  outlaw,  a  man  that  had  been  in  sin  until 
his  body  and  mind  were  wrecked  as  a  result  of 
every  possible  excess.  He  had  been  in  prison 
twenty-seven  times.  The  people  would  have  been 


196  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

glad  if  he  was  dead,  but  he  was  not  considered 
worth  killing.  God  said,  "  I  will  take  that  man," 
and  he  saved  him  and  sanctified  him  wholly  and 
healed  his  body  and  he  went  and  opened  that  old 
theater,  and  cleaned  it  out,  and  cleaned  it  up,  and 
brought  in  the  gospel ;  and  God  saved  more  souls 
in  that  old  disreputable  opera-house  than  in  all  the 
churches  put  together.  These  are  days  when  God 
is  moving  mightily  on  the  lowest  hopeless  ma- 
terial. He  is  making  some  strange  selections.  It 
would  seem  sometimes  that  He  is  taking  pleasure 
in  making  something  out  of  nothing,  that  He 
might  show  the  world  what  grace  can  do. 

There  was  a  river  thief  of  long  standing  in 
lower  New  York,  an  awful  criminal;  everybody 
dreaded  him;  nobody  seemed  to  love  him.  Some- 
how the  gospel  got  to  him,  he  heard  about  my 
text,  and  he  turned  to  the  Lord,  and  Jesus  saved 
him.  He  opened  a  mission  in  Water  Street  and 
from  the  time  the  door  was  opened  to  this  hour 
it  has  been  a  place  of  salvation.  Perhaps  there  is 
not  a  spot  in  America  where  more  homeless, 
friendless,  penniless  men  have  found  salvation 
than  at  that  place.  He  preached,  and  prayed,  and 
sang,  and  shouted  and  God  blessed  him  and  multi- 
tudes turned  to  the  Lord.  Strange  and  pathetic 
are  the  stories  of  that  work.  He  had  the  gospel 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  197 

of  my  text.  He  went  a  little  further  uptown  and 
found  a  saloon,  called  the  Cremorne  Saloon,  and 
rented  a  room  beside  it  and  named  his  mission  for 
the  saloon,  "  The  Cremorne  Mission."  Men 
smiled;  the  devil  hissed  through  his  teeth;  it 
seemed  like  child's  play  for  a  man  who  had  been 
a  drunken  outlaw,  to  start  a  mission  beside  a 
famous  saloon  and  expect  to  accomplish  anything; 
but  it  was  only  a  short  time  until  the  saloon  was 
no  more  and  the  Cremorne  Mission  stands  to-day 
and  has  been  a  place  of  the  salvation  of  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  souls,  not  because  of  any  human 
wisdom  or  might,  but  because  Jerry  McAuley 
had  the  gospel  of  Christ,  which  is  "  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation,  unto  every  one  that  believeth." 
A  man  staggered  into  the  Water  Street  Mission 
who  had  drunk  forty-five  glasses  of  liquor  within 
forty-eight  hours,  hopeless  and  friendless.  He  was 
a  man  of  brains,  was  educated,  had  been  a  good 
lawyer  in  other  days,  but  the  devil  had  dragged 
him  down  until  he  was  a  wreck,  lying  around  in 
filth  and  vermin,  drinking  and  smoking  whatever 
he  could  secure,  homeless  and  hopeless.  But  one 
night  he  heard  the  gospel  of  this  text  and  he  said, 
"  Is  that  so,  can  He  do  that  for  me?  "  They  said, 
"  Yes."  He  believed  in  Jesus  and  God  saved  him 
from  sin.  He  soon  had  a  good  suit  of  clothes  on 


198  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

his  back  and  money  in  his  pockets.  He  soon 
opened  a  mission,  and  another  and  another  until 
he  had  opened  thirty-five  rescue  missions  in 
America  and  saved  seventeen  thousand  drunkards, 
because  he  had  the  power  of  my  text,  "  the  gospel, 
which  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation." 

O  beloved,  we  must  not  be  disheartened.  We 
must  not  sit  down;  we  must  remember  that  God 
loves  this  great  lost  world  and  He  is  glad  to  take 
in  the  lowest  of  the  low.  He  says  there  is  no  differ- 
ence. The  people  who  live  on  Fifth  Avenue  and 
the  boulevards  in  great  mansions  are  no  more  to 
Him  than  the  poor  tramps  and  harlots  and  jail- 
birds. He  would  do  just  as  much  for  the  tramps 
and  bums  and  unfortunate  girls  as  those  who  live 
in  palatial  homes  and  drive  through  the  best  streets 
with  rubber-tire  carriages.  My  heart  is  with  the 
lowest  of  the  low  and  I  have  no  apology  to  offer 
for  being  where  I  am. 

Three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  fallen  girls 
in  this  country  in  sin, —  unnameable  sin, —  sin  that 
does  not  differ  in  the  sight  of  God  from  other  sin. 
There  is  no  difference  between  the  fallen  woman 
and  the  fallen  man;  if  any  difference,  she  is  the 
better  of  the  two.  The  world  brands  her  with 
everlasting  disgrace  and  will  scarcely  turn  a  hand 
to  help  her,  while  the  scoundrel  who  ruined  her 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  199 

is  allowed  to  go  free  and  is  often  welcomed  into 
the  society  and  homes  of  respectable  people.  I 
want  to  say  that  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  does 
away  with  all  this  nonsense  and  gross  injustice. 
Sin  is  sin  wherever  you  find  it,  and  unless  the 
sinner  repents,  he  is  lost  forever. 

While  preaching  in  the  slums  of  New  York, 
one  of  my  frail  little  sisters,  who  at  the  age  of 
twenty-six  had  spent  thirteen  years  in  street  life, 
stepped  up  to  me  and  said,  "  Brother  Rees,  I  feel 
somehow  that  I  ought  to  open  a  shelter  for  fallen 
girls.  My  few  friends  have  discouraged  me,  not 
one  of  them  has  given  me  any  encouragement." 
I  knew  God  had  saved  and  sanctified  her  and 
healed  her  frail  body;  I  heard  her  story  and  then 
slipped  into  her  hand  a  little  offering  and  said, 
"  Open  up  a  home  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and 
trust  Him  to  supply  the  needs."  She  went  down 
into  what  was  then  known  as  Mulberry  Bend  and 
opened  two  rooms  with  some  pallets  of  straw7,  some 
soap-boxes  and  some  broken  stools;  no  beds,  no 
chairs,  no  bureaus,  no  furnishings,  just  an  old 
rickety  table  and  a  few  things  like  that;  but  the 
place  was  packed  with  girls.  At  that  time  I 
was  making  regular  visits  to  the  slums  every  fort- 
night. When  I  returned,  my  sister  came  to  me 
and  said,  "My  two  rooms  are  filled  and  more  girls 


200  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

want  to  come."  "  Well,"  I  said,  "take  more  room 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  She  took  more  rooms, 
got  some  more  straw,  some  more  soap-boxes,  and 
broken  stools  and  packed  the  place  full  of  girls 
and  salvation.  When  I  returned  in  two  weeks 
more,  she  said,  "  Brother  Rees,  I  have  got  to  have 
a  house."  I  said,  "  Take  it  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  She  took  a  whole  house  and  furnished 
it  and  packed  it  full  of  girls  and  salvation  and 
that  was  the  way  one  of  the  most  famous  shelters 
for  fallen  girls  was  opened.  No  committee  of  a 
dozen  women  in  their  silks,  no  board  of  trustees. 
It  did  not  take  much  money  to  rent  the  rooms  and 
it  took  less  to  furnish  them,  but  the  girls  were 
there  and  Jesus  was  there  and  they  found  salva- 
tion. 

God  is,  in  these  days,  reaching  to  the  uttermost 
corners  of  the  earth  to  save  the  poor,  unfortunate 
people.  I  can  say  with  the  venerable  old  apostle, 
"  I  am  not  ashamed  of  this  gospel,  and  I  am  not 
ashamed  of  my  Christ,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  of 
the  fish  we  catch;  many  of  them,  it  is  true,  have 
been  unfortunate  and  have  been  down  very  low, 
but  when  they  are  saved  and  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  they  are  going  to  rank  with  the  best  of 
society  in  heaven. 

Only  two  years  ago  I  was  preaching  in  a  cer- 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  201 

tain  district  of  one  of  our  western  cities  and  there 
strolled  into  the  meeting  a  discouraged,  heart- 
broken, hopeless  man  and  sat  down  away  back  by 
the  door.  I  did  not  know  him,  but  God  loved 
him  and  there  was  a  gospel  to  save  him.  He 
threw  his  head  down  on  the  back  of  the  bench 
in  front  of  him  and  wept  freely.  He  had  been 
converted  only  a  short  time  before,  but  had  had 
so  little  to  encourage  him  and  nobody  seemed  to 
be  his  friend  and  he  was  hopelessly  discouraged. 
Finally,  he  came  forward  to  the  altar.  Little  did 
I  know  what  there  was  in  him.  He  was. the  most 
notorious  burglar  perhaps  in  the  Mississippi 
valley.  There  was  not  a  rogues'  gallery  in  the 
country  without  his  picture.  At  the  age  of  thirty- 
five  he  had  spent  twenty  years  behind  prison  bars. 
All  the  detectives  and  officers  of  the  land  knew 
him.  I  did  not  know  him,  but  God  knew  him 
and  reclaimed  and  blessed  his  soul  that  night.  A 
few  days  after,  he  came  to  the  altar  and  received 
the  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost;  but  though 
saved  and  sanctified,  how  could  he  get  employ- 
ment? Nobody,  much,  had  confidence  in  him. 
Thank  God,  there  was  a  sanctified  lumber-dealer 
in  the  city.  He  said,  "  I  will  give  him  employ- 
ment." Think  of  it.  A  burglar,  a  thief,  an  out- 
law. Yes,  sanctified  people  will  trust  men  when 


202  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

nobody  else  will.  He  gave  him  employment.  A 
few  weeks  later  I  was  in  the  city  and  went  around 
to  the  lumber  yard.  I  said  to  the  employer,  who 

is  a  personal  friend  of  mine,  "  How  is ?  " 

He  said,  "  Of  the  twenty  men  in  the  yard,  I  have 
not  one  more  trusty."  After  he  was  saved,  the 
policemen  would  meet  him  on  the  streets  and 

say,  "  Hello,  ,  what  religious  dodge  is  this 

you  are  trying  to  give  us?  We  know  you,  and  it 
won't  be  long  before  we  will  have  you  back  in 
jail."  After  he  had  walked  straight  for  eight 
months,  one  day  he  was  walking  through  the 
streets  of  Cincinnati  when  a  detective  and  two 
policemen  stepped  up  to  him  and  said,  "  Hello, 

,  we  have  been  watching  you  for  these  eight 

months  and  we  believe  in  you,  and  if  you  will 
go  with  us  up  here  to  the  rogues'  gallery,  we  will 
ask  them  to  take  your  picture  out."  Well,  it  made 
but  little  difference  to  him,  but  he  went  with  them 
and  they  took  his  picture  out  and  in  a  few  weeks 
he  heard  they  had  taken  it  out  in  Indianapolis,  St. 
Louis,  Chicago,  Louisville,  and  all  through  the 
Mississippi  valley,  because  the  power  of  my  text 
had  saved  him  from  all  sin.  There  are  no  hope- 
less cases,  God  is  able;  I  wish  we  might  give  Him 
a  chance.  A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  passing  through 
Indianapolis  and  ran  down  to  the  lumber-yard. 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  203 

I  found  my  friend  foreman  of  the  whole  gang  of 
the  shipping  department.  He  was  giving  orders 
and  they  were  being  respected  as  if  he  had  never 
been  behind  bars  in  his  life.  He  has  since  married 
a  beautiful  sanctified  girl  and  recently  I  have 
been  honored  with  one  of  the  greatest  privileges 
of  my  life,  that  of  breaking  bread  in  his  Christian 
home,  a  veritable  heaven  on  earth.  I  do  not  know 
when  I  have  been  so  blessed.  Glory  to  God, 
forever. 

In  speaking  of  the  work  of  lifting  up  the  fallen, 
people  say  to  me,  "  O,  it  does  not  pay."  I  want 
to  say  to  you,  there  is  no  investment  that  pays  as 
well.  If  people  would  put  their  time  and  strength 
and  money  in  getting  the  Gospel  to  those  who  are 
down  instead  of  spending  it  on  dead  churches 
where  they  do  not  want  the  gospel,  they  would 
reap  far  greater  results  in  the  salvation  of  souls. 
I  hardly  feel  comfortable  in  steeple  houses  any 
more,  in  too  many  cases  they  do  not  want  salva- 
tion. It  is  in  outside  places,  the  highways  and 
hedges,  the  people  who  are  hopeless  and  helpless, 
who  are  hungry  for  God. 

In  the  city  of  Chicago,  God  put  it  on  our  hearts 
to  open  a  Home  for  fallen  girls.  A  place  for 
them  to  rest  and  get  saved  and  receive  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  begin  life  over  again.  We  took  our 


204  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

offering  in  August  and  on  the  first  of  October,  we 
opened  the  Home.  It  would  probably  have  taken 
a  church  board  two  years  for  careful  deliberation 
and  discussing  of  plans  to  raise  money,  but  when 
the  Holy  Ghost  gets  hold  of  any  matter,  it  does 
not  take  Him  long  to  make  it  a  success.  It  is 
truly  wonderful;  we  are  careful  to  give  Him  all 
the  glory.  Our  business  is  to  pull  men  out  of  the 
fire  and  to  save  women  from  sin  and  from  hell. 
There  is  in  the  slimiest  slums  of  Chicago  a  solid 
block  of  sin,  one-half  a  mile  square,  in  which  there 
are  two  hundred  and  forty-one  saloons,  besides 
brothels,  dance-halls,  low-grade  theaters,  etc.,  and 
only  one  little  chapel,  or  place  of  worship. 

The  other  day  we  decided  we  would  give  the 
poor  hungry  men  a  dinner.  So  we  bought  a  thou- 
sand fresh  buns,  made  a  thousand  cups  of  coffee, 
secured  a  barrel  of  apples  and  other  things  in  pro- 
portion and  spread  a  table.  Most  of  the  people 
do  not  believe  in  feeding  tramps;  they  are  afraid 
to  give  a  man  a  meal  or  a  poor  old  worn-out  gar- 
ment, for  fear  they  will  give  to  somebody  who  is 
not  worthy.  Beloved,  I  would  rather  help  a  dozen 
that  are  not  worthy,  than  to  fail  to  help  somebody 
that  is  worthy  and  is  needing  assistance.  The 
dinner  .only  cost  us  about  thirty-five  dollars  in 
cash,  and  at  the  close  of  the  day,  there  were  seven 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  205 

men  who  had  been  gloriously  saved.     Some  of 

them  testified  it  was  because  of  the  extended  kind- 

* 

ness  of  the  saints.  One  man  said  he  had  not  be- 
lieved in  religion  before.  There  has  been  a  stream 
of  salvation  in  that  place  ever  since.  There  were 
seven  souls  for  thirty-five  dollars.  Can  you  invest 
money  in  these  aristocratic  churches  and  have  it 
bring  results  like  that?  In  many  of  them  there 
have  been  thousands  of  dollars  spent  with  not  a 
single  soul  saved.  Five  dollars  a  head  is  not 
expensive  for  souls,  though  sometimes  we  get  them 
at  the  rate  of  one  dollar  each.  When  you  and  I 
come  to  the  judgment  and  see  things  in  the  light 
of  eternity,  we  will  wish  we  had  put  more  money 
where  it  will  count  for  God  and  souls. 

Well,  on  October  ist,  we  opened  the  Home  with 
five  or  six  rooms  and  in  the  midst  of  much  oppo- 
sition. The  devil  is  sure  to  butt  against  anything 
that  there  is  any  real  good  in,  but  the  first  year, 
we  rescued  and  sheltered  about  fifty  girls.  If  the 
Christian  people  were  awake  to  this  work,  we 
might  give  almost  everybody  a  chance,  but  few 
know  the  real  condition  of  things  in  this  country 
and  fewer  know  the  power  of  my  text.  Thank 
God,  "  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to 
every  one  that  believeth."  I  could  give  you  touch- 
ing incident  after  touching  incident,  I  could  tell 


206  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

you  things  that  would  make  you  cry,  but  that  is 
not  enough,  that  is  not  just  what  we  are  after;  we 
want  to  get  conviction  from  God.  We  want  to 
know  that  God  is  moving  on  us  in  these  days  in 
the  rescuing  of  perishing  souls.  Down  in  the 
slums  of  Chicago,  there  are  people  who  have  not 
a  pound  of  coal  in  the  house;  people  are  just  dying 
for  food.  Right  here  in  Chicago  in  the  midst  of 
plenty,  where  people  boast  of  expending  nineteen 
million  dollars  for  Christmas  presents,  the  poor 
are  starving  for  bread,  and  when  somebody  starves 
or  freezes  to  death,  the  notice  of  it  occupies  about 
three  lines  in  the  newspaper  and  the  world  hurries 
on  to  hell. 

The  other  day  I  was  in  the  Harrison  Street 
Police  Station  and  I  found  a  man  in  a  filthy  cell 
who  was  arrested  for  stealing  two  lumps  of  coal, 
perhaps  neither  weighing  more  than  five  pounds, 
and  his  wife  and  children  were  shivering  with 
the  cold.  Men  steal  their  thousands  and  on 
account  of  the  rottenness  of  politics  and  municipal 
government  no  arrest  is  made,  but  the  poor  are 
oppressed  and  are  becoming  poorer  every  day. 
The  poor  are  practically  without  a  gospel. 

The  aristocratic  churches  do  not  want  these 
people,  even  after  we  get  them  saved  and  sancti- 
fied. In  Chicago  we  have  had  to  organize  a 


THE  POWER  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  207 

church  where  these  would  be  welcome  and  where 
the  best  pews  are  opened  to  those  who  have  been 
among  the  lowest. 

We  found  a  starving  family  of  five  in  the  Harri- 
son Street  Jail.  They  were  shipped  from  Ala- 
bama to  Chicago.  You  know  how  states  quarrel 
over  their  poor;  nobody  wants  the  poor;  Alabama 
did  not  want  them;  Chicago  did  not  want  them,  so 
they  were  thrown  into  the  witness  cell  of  the  Har- 
rison Street  Police  Station,  all  sick  and  all  starv- 
ing. The  hospitals  did  not  want  them,  they  will 
not  take  people  unless  they  are  nearly  dead,  the 
county  refused  them;  they  were  Germans,  but  the 
German  consul  would  do  nothing  for  them.  We 
took  them  Thanksgiving  day  as  a  Thanksgiving 
present.  God  let  us  furnish  them  a  home.  One 
of  the  children  was  too  near  gone  and  after  two 
weeks  went  to  heaven.  The  others  recovered  and 
were  grateful  for  the  kindness.  How  I  thank  God 
that  we  could  care  for  that  little  child  the  last 
three  weeks  of  its  life  and  that  it  did  not  die  in 
that  dingy  cell.  And  yet  thousands  are  dying  in 
the  dingiest  and  dampest  corners  of  this  earth,  not 
only  without  food  and  raiment,  but  without  the 
gospel  and  without  hope.  Beloved,  my  whole 
soul  is  in  this  work.  I  want  no  more  Thanksgiving 
days  after  the  old  fashion  —  the  self-centered,  self- 


208  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ish  way  of  gathering  a  few  of  our  friends  together 
and  stuffing  stomachs,  and  neglecting  the  poor. 
I  prefer  to  go  down  and  eat  with  the  bums  and 
tell  them  of  a  Christ  who  can  save  to  the  uttermost. 
Beloved,  I  can  ask  you  one  or  two  questions  that 
ought  to  enable  you  to  determine  how  Christ-like 
you  are  in  your  life.  Who  eats  at  your  house 
when  you  have  a  feast?  Who  eats  turkey  on 
Thanksgiving  or  Christmas  in  your  home?  When 
there  is  a  birthday  or  anniversary  feast,  who  is  it 
that  sits  at  your  table?  Who  did  Christ  say  should 
eat  with  you? 

Are  you  living  a  Christ-like  life?  God  help 
us  and  give  us  the  compassion  that  He  had  and 
let  us  possess  and  practice  the  spirit  that  He  mani- 
fested in  His  work.  Some  day  we  will  look  back 
and  remember  our  trials  and  pains  as  nothing  and 
rejoice  that  we  were  ever  counted  worthy  to  suffer 
shame  for  His  name. 


LITTLE  H— . 

LITTLE  H is  not  yet  sixteen  years  old.  She 

was  born  of  godless  parents  and  reared  in  a  home 
where  beer  was  on  the  table  as  far  back  as  she  can 
remember.  Her  father  was  always  intoxicated 
and  very  abusive  in  his  family,  her  mother  a 
moderate  drinker,  and  the  whole  household  with- 
out any  knowledge  of  salvation.  Scolding,  quar- 
reling, fighting, —  the  home  was  a  miniature  hell 
on  earth.  Reader,  is  it  any  wonder  to  you  that 
girls  reared  in  such  homes  go  astray?  Are  you 
sure  you  would  have  done  better  under  such  cir- 
cumstances? I  wonder  if  you  appreciate  your 
Christian  homes  and  training  as  you  should? 

Before  she  was  fourteen  years  old,  her  virtue 
was  gone  and  she  was  in  unnameable  sin.  She 
never  found  any  pleasure  in  this  life  of  sin,  but  a 
combination  of  circumstances  forced  her  to  it. 
Men  would  take  her  into  rooms  and  force  her  to 
drink.  She  would  feel  so  badly  afterward  that 
she  would  lament  and  weep  over  her  sins,  but 
there  was  no  one  to  offer  relief.  There  were  scores 
ready  to  drag  her  down,  but  not  a  man  to  lift  her 
up. 

211 


212  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

She  would  resolve  that  she  would  break  away 
from  this  life.  She  would  go  and  get  housework 
to  do  that  she  might  make  an  honest  dollar,  but 
again  and  again  her  hopes  were  blasted  and  there 
was  none  to  help.  How  the  poor  child  needed 
some  one  to  tell  her  about  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
power  of  His  gospel  to  break  and  cancel  the 
power  of  sin!  She  went  from  bad  to  worse  until 
one  night  she  met  a  girl  friend  of  hers,  who  was 
not  much  older  than  herself,  but  more  experienced 
in  sin,  who  was  beastly  drunk  and  all  that  night 
they  reveled  in  sin  and  shame. 

Next  morning  they  felt  so  badly  that  they  de- 
cided not  to  go  back  to  their  employment.  Under 
the  influence  of  strong  drink  and  nicotine,  the 
devil  suggested  to  them  to  do  some  thieving.  They 
stole  a  guitar,  gold  ring,  and  a  revolver  and  found 
a  young  man  who  consented  to  pawn  the  articles 
for  them.  They  spent  the  day  in  sin  and  disposed 
of  about  all  the  money.  As  evening  came  on. 
they  knew  it  would  not  do  to  go  home,  so  they  took 
shelter  in  a  house  where  they  thought  they  would 
not  be  found.  But  late  that  night  a  messenger 
came  for  them.  They  jumped  out  of  a  back  win- 
dow and  ran  around  through  and  across  the  rail- 
road tracks  and  among  the  box  cars  and  thus  made 


LITTLE  H .  213 

their  escape.  They  found  an  old  empty  house  and 
crawled  into  it  and  slept  until  morning. 

H had  heard  of  the  Rescue  Home,  but  she 

knew  but  little  about  it,  except  that  it  was  a  place 
where  poor  lost  girls  could  stay.  She  knew  the 
direction  and  that  it  was  two  or  three  miles  from 
where  they  were,  but  did  not  know  how  to  find 
it.  But  they  were  determined  to  make  a  search  and 
when  they  were  in  the  immediate  neighborhood, 
they  inquired  of  the  post-man  who  guided  them 
and  they  were  soon  standing  at  the  door  of  "  Rest 
Cottage." 

The  door  was  opened  and  they  came  in.  No 
one  is  ever  refused  at  "  Rest  Cottage  "  even  if  they 
have  to  sleep  on  the  floor.  They  tried  hard  to  get 
saved  and  confessed  all  but  their  thieving;  they 
so  dreaded  the  penitentiary  that  this  they  tried  to 
cover.  But,  of  course,  they  could  not  find  salva- 
tion with  sin  covered  any  more  than  can  you,  my 
dear  reader. 

In  about  two  weeks  an  officer  came  and  arrested 
and  put  them  in  jail.  They  lay  in  jail  from 
Thursday  until  Tuesday  afternoon.  They  were 
called  into  court  at  least  four  times  during  their 
stay  in  prison.  Our  missionaries  stood  with  them 
in  the  court  room  and  pleaded  for  their  release  in 


214  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

the  name  of  the  Lord.  On  the  fifth  day  the  judge 
turned  them  back  to  us.  Never  were  girls  more 
delighted  and  soon  gave  themselves  over  to  the 
Lord  and  found  real  salvation. 

H ,  who  is  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  has 

since  been  sanctified  wholly  and  went  to  the  Bible 
school  for  better  preparation  to  tell  poor  lost  girls 
the  way  to  salvation. 

Beloved,  it  is  truly  wonderful  what  God  is  doing 
for  these  poor  girls.  All  glory  to  His  name  for- 
ever. 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

ON  Pacific  Avenue,  there  stands  an  old  leaning, 
unpainted,  dilapidated  house.  Newspapers  were 
in  the  windows  instead  of  glass;  no  carpet  on  the 
floor,  no  table,  and  not  a  whole  piece  of  furniture 
in  the  house.  The  furnishings  consisted  of  a  small 
rusty  shop  stove,  an  old  half  bed,  broken  and 
ready  to  fall;  and  two  broken  chairs.  The  pantry 
consisted  of  an  orange  box  standing  on  end,  con- 
taining three  or  four  cracked  dishes.  The  only 
articles  of  food  in  the  house  was  a  third  of  a  loaf 
of  stale  bread.  On  the  rickety  bed  was  a  woman 
not  less  than  fifty  years  of  age.  The  ragged  mat- 
tress was  indescribably  filthy,  and  everything  pre- 
sented the  most  unhappy  and  distressing  appear- 
ance. 

The  family  consisted  of  a  helpless  old  woman, 
with  her  hands  and  feet  all  drawn  out  of  shape 
with  rheumatism  —  brought  on  by  exposure  to 
cold  and  wet,  while  earning  her  bread  by  the  sale 
of  newspapers  on  the  street,  and  two  little  boys. 

The  older  child  secured  their  only  means  of 
support  since  his  mother's  sickness  by  selling 
papers  at  the  corner  of  State  and  VanBuren 
Streets,  earning  from  twenty  to  forty  cents  a  day. 

217 


218  MIRACLES   IN  THE  SLUMS. 

The  younger  boy  was  cook,  nurse,  and  general 
housekeeper.  He  slept  with  his  sick  mother  on 
the  half-bed,  and  Ben,  the  newsboy,  slept  on  a  cot 
which  wras  out  in  the  kitchen,  but  which  he  was 
forced  to  bring  into  his  mother's  room  every  night 
on  account  of  the  great  hungry  rats  that  had  taken 
possession  of  the  old  shed. 

Ben  had  brought  home  thirty  cents  the  night 
before,  and  Jimmie  had  bought  a  loaf  of  stale 
bread,  and  a  couple  of  pork  chops  such  as  you 
can  purchase  in  a  butcher  shop  in  the  slums.  By 
the  use  of  the  last  pound  of  coal,  the  little  cook 
had  fried  the  chops  not  more  than  half  done,  and 
that  was  all  the  boys  and  sick  mother  had  had  to 
eat  that  day.  The  third  of  the  loaf  of  bread  she 
had  ordered  saved  for  little  Ben  when  he  came 
home  hungry,  in  case  he  had  not  had  a  good  day 
with  his  papers. 

The  woman  had  been  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  a 
missionary  had  given  her  a  copy  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, and  while  reading  it  she  had  been  glori- 
ously converted  to  Christ.  Her  spirit  was  all 
aglow,  and  her  face  was  radiant  with  heavenly 
sunshine.  I  have  never  seen  so  much  content- 
ment, happiness,  and  sunshine  in  any  room  so 
dark  and  destitute  as  I  found  here. 

There  was  not  a  single  complaint;  no  trace  of 


CHRIST  IN  THE  SLUMS.  219 

murmuring;  she  was  satisfied  with  everything; 
and  was  praising  the  Lord  continually. 

The  hovel  was  owned  by  a  Catholic  priest,  and 
the  rent  had  been  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  per 
month;  but  when  he  heard  that  she  was  reading 
a  Protestant  Bible,  he  sent  the  agent  to  say  that  the 
rent  would  be  six  dollars  per  month. 

We  prayed,  wept,  and  shouted  as  best  we  could 
under  the  circumstances,  but  our  shouts  choked  us, 
and  we  felt  that  on  our  part,  practice  would  be 
more  appropriate  than  preaching  or  shouting. 
You  know  now  what  would  come  next.  The  bed 
and  bedding  were  fired  to  the  dump;  the  place 
was  renovated,  fumigated,  and  irrigated.  The 
missionaries  who  were  once  filled  with  pride, 
bought  pails,  soap,  and  brushes,  and  then  laughed, 
wept,  and  shouted  while  on  their  knees  scrubbing 
that  miserable  filthy  floor. 

They  were  so  blessed  in  their  souls  that  they  felt 
they  would  be  glad  to  scrub  another  one.  This  is 
a  part  of  what  the  power  of  the  gospel  does  in  the 
slums.  All  glory  to  the  Christ  who  entered  and 
transformed  that  hovel  into  a  little  heaven. 


He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a 
stone  at  her.    John  8 :  7. 


B . 

B is  one  of  our  first  trophies  in  the  Rescue 

Work.  She  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Virginia. 
Her  parents  both  died  when  she  was  very  small. 
By  a  noble  struggle  she  resisted  sin  and  main- 
tained her  virtue  till  she  was  twenty-one  years  of 
age.  Then,  through  the  most  adroit  means,  she 
was  ruined  by  a  relative.  When  she  had  taken 
her  first  misstep,  all  of  her  kinfolks  turned  her 
down  with  emphasis. 

Although  it  was  one  of  them  that  led  her  to  the 
slaughter,  they  all  positively  refused  to  recognize 
her  in  any  way.  They  did  not  even  answer  a  tele- 
gram when  she  was  thought  to  be  dying.  No  one 
seemed  to  care  for  her,  and  there  was  no  place  to 
go.  The  door  to  a  life  of  sin  is  always  open,  and 
the  broad  road  to  hell  offers  many  inducements, 
and  makes  many  promises. 

When  once  started  down,  how  rapidly  their 
feet  take  hold  of  death.  It  is  not  far  from  a  home 
of  purity  and  peace,  to  the  morgue,  the  potter's 
field,  and  a  nameless  grave.  Forty-six  thousand 
of  these  girls  fill  unmarked  graves  every  year,  and 
since  forty-six  thousand  are  going  to  the  potter's 
field  this  year,  forty-six  thousand  pure,  strong, 
healthy  girls  must  march  up  to  take  their  places. 

221 


222  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Think  of  it,  parents,  where  are  the  forty-six 
thousand  girls  to  come  from  next  year?  And 
forty-six  thousand  the  year  following?  They  must 
come  from  somewhere.  They  will  most  of  them 
come  from  the  country  and  country  villages; 
manv  of  them  from  Christian  homes  and  the  Sun- 

./ 

day-schools.  I  ask  you  to  look  at  this  dark  proces- 
sion marching  to  the  altar  almost  a  thousand  a 
week,  just  like  the  cattle  march  down  to  death  in 
the  stockyards  in  Chicago.  What  if  some  one  is 
solicited  from  your  home?  What  are  your  feel- 
ings? What  is  your  attitude?  And  let  me  ask 
you,  are  you  doing  your  whole  duty  in  the  pro- 
tection of  the  virtue  of  our  j'outh?  Are  not  the 
foregoing  facts  enough  to  arouse  the  sympathy, 
and  start  the  slumbering  conscience  of  the  people 
of  American  Protestantism? 

B—  -  was  drafted  into  this  great  army,  and 
had  to  go.  The  rigor  of  the  service  no  pen  can 
describe.  The  pain  and  anguish  it  is  impossible 
for  us  to  conceive.  It  was  only  through  the  gospel 
that  she  was  brought  out  of  this  worse  than 
Egyptian  bondage.  This  was  her  only  fire-escape 
from  a  burning  hell. 

Soon  after  coming  to  the  Rescue  Home,  she 
made  several  vigorous  attempts  to  get  saved,  but 
she  made  the  mistake  so  common  of  misrepresent- 


B .  223 

ing  the  situation.  These  poor  girls  have  been  sc 
cast  off  and  put  down  by  everybody  that  it  seerns 
almost  impossible  for  them  to  believe  that  we  will 
forgive  and  love  them  if  they  will  tell  us  the  worst. 
So  they  often  cover  their  lives  in  part,  and  are 
loth  to  confess  their  real  name.  Her  child  was  in 
her  arms,  but  she  represented  she  was  married,  and 
that  her  husband  had  deserted  her. 

But  with  sin  covered,  she  could  never  get  an 
experience  that  would  stick.  It  was  an  awful 
struggle,  and  almost  killed  the  poor  girl ;  but  when 
she  had  confessed  it  all  out,  and  sent  home  some 
things  she  had  stolen,  and  confessed  to  a  woman, 
with  whose  husband  she  had  lived  in  sin,  God 
gloriously  saved  her. 

Let  me  diverge  enough  to  say  that  this 
crime  among  married  men,  and  even  among 
church  members  in  high  standing,  is  becoming 
terrifically  alarming.  It  was  this  married  man,  a 
church  member  in  good  standing,  wrho  brought 
her  to  the  city,  and  after  some  weeks  deserted  her; 
and  has  doubtless  gone  on  ruining  and  deserting 
others,  God  in  heaven  open  the  eyes  of  parents 
to  the  dangers  of  these  awful  times!  Is  it  not 
time  that  the  pulpit  was  thundering  out  a  Sinai 
gospel  of  hell  and  eternal  damnation  for  all  such 
satanic  hypocrites? 


224  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

The  dear  girl  has  gone  on  beautifully  in  her 
Christian  experience,  and  feels  heart-broken  as 
the  time  approaches  when  she  must  go  out  to  make 
her  way  in  this  friendless  world  again.  It  breaks 
our  hearts  to  part  from  these  precious  girls,  who 
have  been  saved  and  transformed  until  their  na- 
tures seem  almost  angelic,  but  they  must  go  to 
make  room  for  others. 

Thank  God!  She  does  not  go  out  alone.  The 
Holy  Spirit  will  go  with  her,  and  a  host  of  true 
friends  will  follow  her  with  their  prayers.  Praise 
the  Lord. 


PEARL  — A     MARVELOUS     TRANSFOR- 
MATION. 

ONE  wintry  November  night,  the  wind  was 
blowing  and  the  snow  flying,  when  a  beautiful 
young  girl  of  nineteen  stood  at  the  door  with  a 
six-weeks'  old  baby  in  her  arms,  seeking  shelter 
from  the  storm.  She  was  not  only  a  sinner,  but 
so  possessed  and  so  completely  controlled  by  the 
devil,  that  nobody  could  live  with  her.  Her 
ungovernable  temper  made  her  unmanageable. 
She  had  been  in  one  or  two  Rescue  Homes,  but 
they  could  do  nothing  with  her.  She  would  not 
only  break  up  the  furniture,  but  break  up  the  folks 
if  they  did  not  get  out  of  her  way. 

Our  doors  are  open  to  such  girls  day  and  night. 
She  was  given  a  warm  welcome,  and  kindly 
treated.  She  was  very  soon  found  on  her  knees, 
weeping  over  her  sins.  As  is  common,  she  came 
to  us  with  a  string  of  lies  on  her  lips,  but  under 
conviction,  she  confessed  that  she  had  never  been 
married  and  gave  her  correct  name.  One  confes- 
sion after  another  was  made,  and  wrongs  were 
righted,  until  at  last  God  forgave  her  sins  and 
wonderfully  saved  her  soul. 

It  was  not  long  till  she  was  seeking  the  baptism 

227 


228  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  when  she  unconditionally 
gave  her  all  to  God  for  time  and  eternity,  He 
gave  her  the  blessing  in  her  heart  and  she  was 
unspeakably  happy.  The  glory  of  God  rilled  her 
soul,  and  the  shine  of  heaven  was  on  her  face. 
How  the  complexion  of  everything  in  her  life  was 
changed!  No  more  fits  of  anger  —  no  more  slam- 
ming doors  or  knocking  over  chairs  —  no  more 
hard  words  or  angry  looks.  All  was  changed  to 
the  placidity  of  grace  and  heavenly  quietude. 

Pearl  soon  found  employment  in  a  public  laun- 
dry. Before  she  went  out  to  work,  she  had  said 
to  me,  "  I  feel  called  to  missionary  work,  and 
want  to  go  to  the  Bible  School  for  preparation." 
I  had  sent  a  number  of  girls  to  school,  but  some 
way  did  not  feel  led  to  give  her  much  encourage- 
ment in  that  direction. 

The  first  time  she  came  home  from  her  work, 
she  said,  "  Brother  Rees,  I  have  seventeen  dollars 
laid  up  for  paying  my  way  to  the  Bible  School." 
I  said,  "  That  is  good,"  but  did  not  yet  say  much; 
but  I  found  that  she  had  been  tithing  her  income 
and  had  bought  Bibles,  and  given  to  the  other 
girls  in  the  laundry. 

When  she  came  home  a  second  time,  she  said, 
u  I  have  twenty-five  dollars  toward  my  support  in 
the  Bible  School."  By  this  time  I  saw  there  was 
good  mettle  in  her  and  said,  "  That  will  be 


PEARL  — A  MARVELOUS  TRANSFORMATION.  229 

enough;  go  and  get  your  outfit,  and  I  will  take 
care  of  the  rest." 

Please  note  the  power  of  the  gospel.  That  sinful 
girl,  almost  insane  at  times  with  inflamed  anger, 
boisterous,  and  most  aggravating  in  her  manner, 
entered  the  Bible  School  and  lived  a  most  ex- 
emplary life  for  a  whole  year.  The  following  is 
the  testimony  of  her  room  mate,  given  at  the  end 
of  the  year:  "I  have  lived  with  Pearl  all  this 
school  year;  have  seen  her  under  the  most  trying 
and  provoking  circumstances;  I  have  never  heard 
an  unkind  word  fall  from  her  lips,  or  seen  her 
when  her  spirit  was  the  least  ruffled."  This  is 
one  of  the  miracles  of  the  gospel  in  the  slums. 
Praise  the  Lord. 


DELLA. 


RESCUED   FROM   AWFUL  SIN. 

DELLA  -  -  is  twenty-one  years  old.  She  was 
born  in  a  typical  Methodist  home  in  the  State 
of  Alabama.  She  was  brought  up  religious,  but 
without  salvation.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  she 
was  ruined  under  the  promise  of  marriage.  The 
villain  was  a  married  man,  though  he  had  con- 
cealed this  fact  from  her.  When  once  ruined, 
every  door  to  sin  and  perdition  was  wide  open  to 
her.  Under  the  promise  of  ease  and  luxury  she 
was  induced  to  go  into  a  house  of  shame.  Here 
she  was  assigned  a  room  and  compelled  to  pay 
twelve  and  one-half  dollars  a  week  for  her  board. 

After  more  than  five  years  in  sin,  she  testifies 
that  nearly  all  the  girls  she  has  ever  met  have 
been  forced  into  sin  for  the  sake  of  a  livelihood. 
In  this  haunt  of  vice  she  was  expected  to  drink 
with  all  the  company  she  received.  Some  have 
wondered  why  nearly  all  the  sporting  girls  be- 
come confirmed  drunkards.  The  madams  of 
these  houses  keep  liquor  and  wine,  and  gentlemen 
callers  are  expected  to  pay  for  all  the  liquor  con- 
sumed. So  the  more  a  girl  will  drink,  the  more 
profit  to  the  madam,  and  the  better  she  is  pleased 
with  the  girl.  To  stand  in  with  her  mistress  and 

231 


232  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

hold  her  place  the  poor  girls  are  almost  compelled 
to  drink  and  smoke. 

Delia  and  her  sister  were  in  sin  in  the  same 

house.  One  day  Brother  B ,  a  holiness 

preacher  of  Alabama,  together  with  a  missionary, 
went  into  this  house  and  held  a  service.  When 
the  brother  prayed,  Delia's  sister  was  seized  with 
conviction,  and  she  could  never  shake  it  off  until 
she  was  saved.  Ten  days  after  she  was  converted, 
the  Lord  took  her  to  heaven.  She  went  shouting 
through  the  gates  into  the  city  of  gold.  What  a 
transformation,  from  a  brothel,  from  that  awful 
place  of  shame,  to  the  "  Celestial  City  of  Light!  " 

"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  publicans  and 
the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before 
you." 

Before  she  died  she  made  Delia  promise  to  quit 
sin  and  get  saved.  The  funeral  was  on  Friday, 
and  the  following  Sunday  Delia  was  gloriously 
converted  to  Christ.  She  came  to  Hope  Cottage 
for  shelter,  and  was  soon  sanctified  wholly.  Thank 
God  she  has  gone  as  straight  as  a  string  from  that 
very  hour.  She  is  supporting  herself  by  honest 
labor,  and  praising  the  Lord  for  full  salvation. 
She  has  not  the  least  desire  for  drink  or  tobacco 
and  no  disposition  to  go  back  to  the  old  life.  Two 
more  miracles  in  the  slums.  O  glory  to  God, 
forever. 


CARL,    THE    CONVERTED    BAR-TENDER. 


A   CONVERTED    SALOONKEEPER. 

AND  just  here  I  must  tell  you  about  the  saloon- 
keeper whose  name  is  Carl,  and  whose  picture  ac- 
companies this  sketch.  He  was  born  in  Germany, 
and  came  to  this  country  four  years  ago,  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two.  He  was  a  machinist,  earning 
eighteen  dollars  per  week  until  there  came  one 
of  those  miserable  strikes,  when  he  was  forced 
out  of  employment.  He  was  induced  to  take  the 
position  as  porter  in  a  saloon,  and  was  then  pro- 
moted downward  to  the  position  of  bartender. 
And  it  was  there  he  was  standing,  dealing  out  dis- 
tilled damnation,  when  Dicie  and  Anna  stood  be- 
fore him  and  preached  Jesus  and  salvation  to  him. 
He  had  sometimes  been  under  conviction,  but 
did  not  know  what  was  the  matter  with  him. 

One  night  he  was  serving  the  drinks  to  a  man 
who  threw  down  a  twenty-dollar  gold  piece,  and 
was  so  intoxicated  that  he  was  hardly  capable  of 
counting  or  caring  for  the  change.  The  change 
was  put  on  the  counter,  but  the  poor  man  was  so 
overcome  that  he  would  take  only  a  couple  of 
dollars  at  a  time,  and  would  stand  and  talk,  and 
hardly  knew  enough  to  care  what  became  of  the 
money.  The  owner  of  the  dive  was  present,  and 

235 


236  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

winked  at  Carl  to  brush  the  money  into  the  till. 

When  he  saw  that  his  boss  wanted  him  to  steal 
the  money,  the  devil  overdid  himself,  and  he  said. 
"  That  is  going  too  far,"  and  from  that  hour  con- 
viction deepened  in  his  heart,  so  that  when  Dicie, 
who  was  not  yet  converted,  and  Annette,  who  had 
but  recently  been  saved  from  a  life  of  sin,  both 
with  Bibles  in  their  hands,  stood  in  that  saloon 
and  told  the  bartender  about  Jesus  and  His  sal- 
vation, and  begged  him  to  get  down  on  his  knees 
and  pray  with  them,  although  he  was  not  ready 
to  take  that  bold  step,  they  found  him  fully  pre- 
pared for  their  message,  and  ready  to  promise  that 
he  would  come  to  the  mission. 

The  following  Wednesday  night  he  paid  a  man 
one  dollar  and  a  half  to  sell  whisky  in  his  place 
while  he  went  to  the  mission  to  get  salvation. 
That  very  night  he  fell  at  the  altar,  and  God  glo- 
riously saved  his  soul.  ,  With  radiant  face  and 
blood-washed  spirit  he  stood  up  and  confessed 
that  God  for  Christ's  sake  had  forgiven  all  his 
sins. 

He  never  went  back  to  the  saloon,  not  even  for 
his  back  pay.  He  soon  obtained  employment  at 
his  former  trade,  and  a  few  weeks  later  was  sanc- 
tified wholly.  He  is  a  living,  walking  miracle, 


A  CONVERTED  SALOONKEEPER.  237 

getting  remarkable  answers  to  prayer,  and  win- 
ning souls  to  Jesus.  He  is  one  of  our  best  street 
preachers,  and  feels  called  as  a  missionary  to 
Japan. 

All  glory  to  the  all-conquering  Christ  forever. 


Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the  publicans  and  the  harlots 
go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before  you.  For  John  came 
unto  you  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  ye  believed  him 
not :  but  the  publicans  and  the  harlots  believed  him :  and 
ye,  when  ye  had  seen  it,  repented  not  afterward,  that  ye 
might  believe'.  Matt.  21:31,  32. 


A    MISSIONARY    IN    A    DIVE --TESTI- 
MONY OF  J.  A.   S. 

SHORTLY  after  our  Rescue  Home  in  Chicago 
was  opened,  I  became  acquainted  with  a  young 
girl  in  the  slums.  I  was  very  much  interested 
in  her.  She  was  a  beautiful  young  girl,  but 
steeped  in  sin.  I  lost  track  of  her,  and  felt  led 
of  the  Lord  to  go  at  midnight,  a  party  of  us,  to 
search  the  slums,  and  find  this  lost  girl.  Our 
friends  told  us  that  such  a  search  was  useless  in 
a  city  of  two  million  people,  but  what  seemed  im- 
possible with  man  was  possible  with  God. 

We  went  about  midnight,  and  for  about  an  hour 
our  labor  seemed  almost  useless.  As  we  were 
going  home  I  felt  God  turning  me  around  toward 
the  "  Red  Light "  district,  a  district  where  a 
policeman  is  scarcely  ever  seen,  and  where  peo- 
ple hardly  consider  it  safe  to  walk  in  the  day- 
time. I  was  strongly  impressed  to  enter  a  certain 
dive,  known  by  all  to  be  one  of  the  very  worst 
dives  of  the  city.  I  felt  like  that  was  the  place, 
opened  the  door,  and  walked  in,  and  the  party 
that  was  with  me  followed,  and  there  I  found 
the  very  girl  I  was  looking  for. 
.  It  would  have  made  your  heart  almost  break 

to  have  heard  her  as  she  cried  out,  "  O  Miss  S , 

239 


240  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

O  Miss  S !    Did  you  come  at  last  to  take  me 

away?  "  And  she  put  her  arms  around  me,  and 
hugged  me,  and  said,  "  O,  take  me  away  from  this 
place,  this  awful  place!"  It  was  a  negro  dive, 
and  the  woman  who  kept  it  was  a  great  big  negress 
weighing  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
Her  eyes  glowed  like  flames  of  fire,  and  she  seemed 
like  the  very  demon  himself,  as  she  saw  the  girl 
with  her  arms  around  me.  In  this  awful  dive  only 
white  girls  were  kept,  beautiful  white  girls,  pat- 
ronized by  those  awful  negroes.  The  woman  said 
to  me,  "  What  do  you  want,  what  are  you  here 
for?  Don't  you  know  what  this  place  is?"  I 
never  answered,  and  God  just  poured  strength 
into  my  soul.  She  said,  "  You  get  out  of  here  just 
as  quick  as  you  can.  You  are  here  at  the  risk  of 
your  life." 

Do  you  suppose  I  could  have  left  that  place 
with  that  young  girl  hanging  round  my  neck,  beg- 
ging me  to  save  her?  Never!  I  made  up  my 
mind  that  the  woman  would  have  to  walk  over 
my  dead  body  before  I  would  leave  without  ac- 
complishing the  purpose  for  which  God  had  sent 
me  there.  I  turned  to  the  negro  woman  and  said, 
"  I  will  never  leave  this  place  until  this  girl  goes 
out  with  me."  She  became  greatly  enraged, 
cursed  me,  and  poured  forth  a  perfect  torrent  of 


A  MISSIONARY  IN  A  DIVE.  241 

abuse,  but  I  scarcely  heard  her.  The  angels  were 
just  hovering  over,  the  glory  of  God  rilled  my 
soul,  and  it  seemed  like  I  was  in  heaven  itself. 

She  said  to  the  others  who  were  with  me,  "  You 
get  out  of  here,"  and  they  went  out,  and  I  was 
left  alone,  after  midnight,  in  that  negro  dive,  but 
there  was  not  a  fear  in  my  soul,  no,  not  one.  I 
believe  I  felt  a  little  like  Daniel  in  the  lions'  den; 
the  lions  were  all  around,  but  the  Son  of  God  was 
standing  by  me. 

Finally  the  woman  said  to  me,  "  I  see  you  are 
not  going  to  get  out."  I  did  not  answer  her;  I 
did. not  have  to;  but  I  turned  to  her  and  said,  "  I 
want  you  to  go  to  your  wardrobe  and  pick  me  out 
a  nice  dress  and  coat  and  hat,  and  fix  this  girl  up 
for  street  wear."  Then  I  turned  upon  her,  and 
told  her  she  was  on  the  road  to  destruction,  and 
was  damning  the  souls  of  these  girls,  and  dragging 
them  down  to  hell.  God  poured  the  message 
through  my  lips,  and  as  dark  as  that  woman  was, 
she  actually  turned  pale  in  the  face.  I  led  the 
way  upstairs  and  said,  "  Now  you  get  the  clothes 
to  fix  this  girl  up;  "  and  she  obeyed  me  like  a  little 
child.  We  dressed  that  girl,  and  got  her  ready, 
then  we  came  down  where  the  other  girls  were, 
and  I  said  to  her,  "  Now  you  go  around  and  tell 
the  girls  good-by,"  and  I  spoke  to  them  of  Jesus, 
16 


242  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  they  broke  down  and  wept,  and  God  had  right 
of  way  in  that  awful  den.  I  brought  that  girl  to 
Rest  Cottage,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  hardly 
touched  the  sidewalk.  I  just  walked  on  air.  It 
was  two  o'clock  at  night,  and  there  were  no  street 
cars,  and  it  was  a  long  way  to  walk.  The  girl  was 
black  and  blue  from  blows  she  had  received,  but 
there  was  such  hope  in  her  face  —  she  was  going 
to  Rest  Cottage. 

By  three  o'clock  she  was  settled  in  a  clean  room, 
and  the  next  day  she  gave  her  heart  to  Jesus.  Talk 
about  rescue  work!  Does  it  pay?  It  pays  as  no 
other  work  in  the  world  pays.  These  precious 
girls!  When  you  give  them  a  chance,  they  never 
get  over  it.  They  never  get  over  the  lives  of  the 
missionaries.  Even  if  they  go  back  into  sin,  the 
prayers  of  the  saints  follow  them,  and  are  never 
forgotten. 

There  were  two  girls  in  our  Home  who  had 
been  saved,  but  the  devil  was  tempting  them  to  go 
back  into  sin.  We  pleaded  with  them  not  to  go, 
but  the  devil  was  pressing  them,  and  they  went. 
A  little  later  they  came  back,  and  said  that  as  they 
went  to  open  the  door  of  a  house  of  sin,  they  could 
hear  the  wails  and  prayers  of  the  Christians  in 
Rest  Cottage.  They  could  not  go  in,  they  could 
not  stand  our  prayers,  and  so  they  came  back. 

J.  A.  S. 


TESTIMONY  OF   BROTHER   K- 


"  WE  were  looking  after  the  interests  of  Res- 
cue Work  in  the  Indian  Territory.  We  found  a 
poor  girl  in  the  Durant  Jail.  Her  mother  had 
died  when  she  was  quite  small.  She  was  placed 
in  the  care  of  her  brother-in-law,  who  led  her 
into  sin  before  she  reached  womanhood,  and  when 
he  found  that  the  matter  was  going  to  bring  dis- 
grace upon  his  home,  he  turned  her  out  of  doors. 
She  had  nowhere  to  go,  slept  in  box-cars,  and 
roamed  about  from  place  to  place,  until  finally 
she  landed  in  the  Durant  Jail  in  the  month  of 
February,  and  had  to  walk  the  floor  to  keep  from 
freezing.  She  was  invited  to  the  Rescue  Home. 
The  city  authorities  remanded  her  fine,  and  turned 
her  over  to  our  care.  When  she  arrived  at  the 
Home,  Sister  Roberts,  who  was  then  matron  but 
has  since  been  called  home  to  heaven,  met  her 
at  the  door,  kissed  her,  and  gave  her  a  warm  wel- 
come. The  poor  girl  said,  "  This  is  the  first  time 
such  a  thing  has  happened  since  my  mother's 
death."  She  was  soon  blessedly  converted  to 
Christ,  is  earning  her  living  in  an  honorable  way, 
and  is  happy  in  the  Lord.  Some  have  asked  me, 
'"  Does  Rescue  Work  pay?  "  For  six  years  I  have 

243 


244  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

been  engaged  in  evangelistic  work,  and  holding 
many  rescue  meetings.  It  is  certainly  the  most 
paying  work  I  have  ever  known  anything  about, 
and  one  which  God's  special  blessing  rests  upon. 
During  the  last  year  I  have  seen  more  than  three 
hundred  souls  saved  or  sanctified:  have  raised  one 
thousand  one  hundred  dollars  for  Rescue  Work, 
and  have  had  more  money  for  myself  than  ever 
before.  B.  M.  K. 


EVA. 


A  DONATION. 

IN  direct  answer  to  prayer,  there  came  a  barrel 
to  Rest  Cottage  sent  by  express,  and  prepaid.  It 
was  filled  with  the  most  beautiful  clothes  for  chil- 
dren and  babies.  Just  what  the  Home  was  need- 
ing at  the  time.  It  also  contained  a  bag  of  break- 
fast food,  one  of  dried  apples,  and  nearly  one-half 
gallon  of  jelly.  These  had  been  carefully  packed 
by  loving  hands,  prompted  by  pious  hearts.  But 
the  most  touching  part  of  all  was  in  the  very  cen- 
ter of  the  barrel  —  a  little  bag  with  forty  cents  in 
it  from  a  little  child,  to  be  used  for  coal  and  food 
for  some  poor  family.  . 

Who  can  doubt  that  the  Lord  hears  and  answers 
the  cry  of  those  who  are  in  need,  and  God  is  al- 
ways willing  to  use  even  a  child  to  bless  and  help 
fallen  humanity. 

There  was  more  gospel  in  that  barrel,  and  more 
real  piety  and  devotion  in  that  little  bag  from  that 
little  child,  than  can  be  found  in  many  loud  house- 
topped  professions  in  these  days.  How  we  need  a 
revival  of  that  kind  of  gospel  for  the  slums. 


347 


And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him 
that  heareth  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  is  athirst  come. 
And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely. 
Rev.  22:  17. 

Now  when  Jesus  was  risen  early  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  he  appeared  first  to  Mary  Magdalene,  out  of  whom 
he  had  cast  seven  devils.  And  she  went  and  told  them  that 
had  been  with  him,  as  they  mourned  and  wept.  Mark 
16:9,  10. 


DOES    RESCUE   WORK   PAY? 

THIS  is  the  question  sometimes  raised,  but  al- 
ways by  those  whose  hearts  are  not  in  the  work. 
We  grant  that  a  great  deal  of  the  so-called  rescue 
work  has  failed.  Scores  of  homes  have  been 
opened  by  unspiritual  churches,  or  by  some  of 
their  members,  who  are  so  in  bondage  to  it  that 
they  allow  it  to  be  held  under  the  authority  of 
the  church,  and  the  backslidden  minister  manip- 
ulates all,  just  as  he  does  in  the  church,  and  in  a 
few  months  it  is  closed ;  and  the  impression  is 
made  on  the  people  that  the  girls  can  not  be  held 
from  their  lives  of  sin.  O,  what  a  mistake,  all  for 
the  want  of  the  blessed  Holy  Ghost!  Where  He 
is  in  charge,  failure  is  impossible.  He  never  knows 
defeat.  All  we  need  is  to  understand  that  the 
battle  is  the  Lord's.  There  is  not  one  girl  in  ten 
in  the  haunts  of  shame  who  is  there  of  choice. 
Most  of  them  hate  the  life  with  a  perfect  hatred. 
They  would  rather  be  dead,  thousands  of  them, 
than  to  go  on  in  a  life  of  sin.  But  they  are  help- 
less; they  are  down,  and  there  is  no  one  to  help 
them  up.  They  are  ruined  forever,  ruined  for 
everything  else. 

If  a  mule  falls  down  in  the  street,  there  are 

249 


250  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

twenty  men  ready  to  help  him  up  and  give  him 
another  chance;  but  if  a  woman  falls  there  are 
twenty  people  ready  to  kick  her  and  send  her 
lower. 

Thousands  of  pure  country  girls  are  allured 
into  our  great  cities  and  led  into  houses  of  disre- 
pute through  so-called  employment  agencies.  Let 
me  sound  a  note  of  warning  to  the  country  girls 
all  over  the  land:  Do  not  respond  to  the  adver- 
tisement of  an  employment  agency,  though  it  may 
be  published  in  your  church  paper,  unless  you 
have  some  means  of  knowing  that  it  is  a  reliable 
firm. 

Three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  women  and 
girls  in  the  United  States  alone  are  in  sin  and 
shame,  and  most  of  them  brought  up  in  country 
homes.  They  do  not  want  to  go  to  church;  the 
churches  do  not  want  them.  Shall  we  let  them  die 
and  be  carried  to  the  morgue,  fill  nameless  graves 
in  the  potter's  field,  and  be  lost  forever,  or  shall 
we  give  them  the  gospel  and  give  them  another 
chance,  let  them  begin  life  over  again,  and  furnish 
them  a  home  until  they  are  saved  and  sanctified, 
then  place  them  in  Christian  families,  where  it 
will  be  possible  for  them  to  become  true  wives 
and  pure  mothers? 

With  all  the  power  of  my  being  I  repudiate  the 


DOES  RESCUE  WORK  PAY?  251 

idea  so  often  expressed  by  the  words,  "  The  bird 
with  the  broken  wing  can  never  fly  so  high  again." 
The  sentiment  is  of  the  devil.  Thank  God  we 
have  a  gospel  which  can  repair  all  broken  wings, 
broken  limbs,  broken  hearts,  broken  hopes,  broken 
homes,  and  wrecked  and  ruined  lives,  and  make 
them  better  than  they  ever  were. 

"  Where  sin  abounded  grace  did  much  more 
abound."  "And  I  will  restore  unto  you  the  years 
that  the  locusts  hath  eaten,  the  canker-worm,  and 
the  caterpillar,  and  the  palmer-worm."  O,  glory 
to  God,  I  know  it  is  so.  Thank  God,  we  may  re- 
deem the  time  wasted  in  sin.  "All  things  are  pos- 
sible with  God,  and  all  things  are  possible  to  him 
that  believeth." 

Let  me  give  you  a  sample.  F—  -  was  a  bar- 
tender, a  gambler,  a  pugilist,  and  a  drunkard.  His 
skill  in  mixing  fine  drinks  always  secured  him  a 
good  salary,  but  sin  had  made  him  more  of  a 
brute  than  a  man,  and  one  Sunday  our  prison 
corps  found  him  locked  up  in  a  little  dingy  cell 
in  the  Harrison  Street  Police  Station.  They 
preached  Jesus  to  him,  but  he  seemed  as  hard  as  a 
stone.  One  of  our  missionaries  extended  her  hand 
through  the  bars  and  pleaded  with  him  to  give  his 
heart  to  Jesus.  He  ordered  her  to  leave  his  cell 
door,  but  instead  she  dropped  down  on  the  stone 


252  MIRACLES-  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

floor  and  wept  and  wept  and  prayed  to  God  for 
him.  She  handed  him  a  card  announcing  our 
services;  and  to  get  rid  of  her  he  promised  her 
that  when  his  fine  was  paid  he  would  come  to  the 
mission. 

He  had  no  thought  of  keeping  his  promise,  but 
some  days  later  he  was  walking  the  streets  and  put 
his  hand  in  his  pocket  for  a  piece  of  tobacco  and 
drew  out  this  card.  He  remembered  his  promise, 
came  to  the  church,  and  was  gloriously  converted 
that  night.  It  was  winter  and  the  snow  was  a 
slush. 

After  the  service,  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night, 
he  went  back  into  a  dark  alley  in  the  rear  of  the 
church  and  knelt  down  in  the  snow  and  said:  "  O 
God,  this  is  too  good  to  be  true,  but  if  I  am  really 
converted  and  You  want  me  to  serve  You,  take 
away  this  appetite  for  whisky  and  tobacco."  Right 
there  in  the  snow  and  water  God  removed  all  de- 
sire for  strong  drink  and  tobacco,  and  after  a  year 
he  testifies  that  he  has  never  wanted  it  since. 

He  soon  obtained  a  position  with  small  pay. 
Liquor-dealers  came  and  offered  him  large  wages. 
He  was  working  for  six  dollars  a  week,  and  they 
offered  him  twenty-two  or  more  to  stand  behind 
the  bar,  but  he  stoutly  refused  and  always  testified 
that  he  was  saved  and  that  God  had  saved  him 


253 

from  all  sin.  His  ungodly  friends  did  their  worst 
to  throw  him  off  the  track,  but  he  lived  a  happy 
Christian  life  for  eleven  months  without  a  break, 
and  then  a  man  who  knew  him  well  boasted  that 
he  would  make  him  angry.  He  knew  what  a 
fighter  F was,  and  that  he  had  a  hasty  tem- 
per. One  day  he  came  to  where  F was  at 

work  and  insulted  him.  He  endured  it  all  like  a 
Christian  until  the  man  finally  slandered  his 
mother.  Like  a  flash  the  old  man  rose  up  in  him, 
and  grabbing  the  man  by  the  throat  with  one  hand 
he  was  just  about  to  strike  him  with  the  other, 
when  he  remembered  that  he  was  a  Christian,  and 
he  did  not  strike,  but  looked  at  him  and  said: 
"  You  know  that  if  you  had  talked  that  way  to  me 
eleven  months  ago  I  would  have  knocked  you 
down,"  but  turned  away  and  felt  just  as  badly  as 
if  he  had  struck  the  man. 

He  came  to  the  church  broken-hearted,  and 
said:  "  What  can  I  do  to  get  rid  of  this  unmanage- 
able temper?  "  We  had  told  him  about  sanctifi- 
cation,  but  he  had  been  so  wonderfully  saved  he 
had  never  felt  the  need  of  it.  Now  he  said:  "  I 
know  what  you  mean;  I  must  have  the  experi- 
ence," and  with  diligence  he  sought  until  he  was 
sanctified  wholly. 

With  what  telling  effect  he  stands  in  the  corri- 


254  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

dors  of  that  old  jail  and  preaches  Jesus  to  the 
prisoners,  pointing  out  to  them  the  very  cell  in 
which  he  was  locked  up  when  the  missionaries* 
brought  the  gospel  to  him!  He  never  has  any 
trouble  in  getting  their  attention,  and  the  effect  is 
most  blessed.  It  is  now  more  than  two  years,  and 
he  is  going  on,  working  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 


ANNA. 


CHILDREN    IN    THE    SLUMS. 

A  Child  Missionary. —  Lester  is  thirteen  years 
of  age,  and  is  a  faithful  slum  mission  worker  in 
the  jails  and  among  the  fallen.  When  he  was  only 
eight  years  old,  he  was  the  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  God  in  rescuing  his  drunken  father  from  a  life 
of  sin  and  shame.  Now  his  father  is  a  Christian 
worker,  and  the  child  accompanies  him  almost 
every  Sabbatrr  through  the  jails  and  among  the 
lost,  preaching  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  hope- 
less. "And  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 

A  Child  in  Jail. —  On  October  27,  I  spent  some 
time  in  a  certain  Chicago  police  station.  In  one 
of  its  dingiest  cells  I  found  a  little  boy,  perhaps 
five  years  old,  with  his  father  who  was  awaiting 
trial.  It  was  one  of  those  sad  cases  of  a  wrecked 
home  and  scattered  family,  and  there  seemed  to 
be  no  other  provision  made  for  the  child.  The 
little  fellow  had  slept  two  nights  on  that  hard 
wooden  bench  without  pillow  or  covering.  The 
father  told  me  that  the  child  was  very  unhappy 
the  first  night,  but  was  settling  down  to  prison  life. 

17  257 


258  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Wrongs  Made  Right. —  Little  Phil,  who  was 
not  brought  up,  but  just  "  came  "  up  in  the  slums, 
heard  the  gospel,  and  was  wonderfully  converted 
to  Christ  He  very  soon  felt  that  some  wrongs 
must  be  made  right.  The  little  fellow  had  been 
riding  to  his  work  of  mornings  with  the  engineer 
on  a  certain  railroad  instead  of  paying  his  fare; 
but  after  he  was  saved,  the  Lord  showed  him  that 
he  must  make  it  right  with  the  railroad  company. 
This  he  was  only  too  glad  to  do,  as  his  little  heart 
was  fairly  bounding  in  the  love  of  Christ. 

Another  Case. —  Little  C ,  a  slum  urchin, 

was  at  the  altar  seeking  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins. 
After  praying  and  weeping  for  a  time  he  rose  up 
and  said  frankly,  "  I  can't  get  religion;  it  is  no 
use  for  me  to  try."  Some  one  asked  why.  He 
said,  "  Well,  I  have  been  stealing  rides  on  the 
electric  cars,  and  every  time  I  try  to  pray,  these 
things  come  up." 

He  was  asked  if  he  was  willing  to  make  it  right, 
to  which  he  promptly  responded,  "  Why,  yes,  if 
I  only  knew  how."  "  How  many  times  do  you 
suppose  you  have  ridden  without  paying  your 
fare?"  After  a  moment's  thoughtfulness,  he  said, 
"  I  think  it  was  about  three  times,  but  to  be  sure, 
I'll  call  it  five." 


CHILDREN   IN  THE  SLUMS.  259 

After  receiving  some  instruction  he  put  twenty- 
five  cents  in  an  envelope  and  sent  it  to  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Traction  Company.  He  very  soon 
received  a  beautiful  letter  from  the  head  of  the 
great  Union  Traction  Company  of  Chicago,  conv 
mending  him  for  his  course.  But  long  before  he 
received  a  response  to  his  letter,  he  received  a  tele- 
gram from  the  Throne  announcing  that  all  his  sins 
were  forgiven,  and  he  was  made  unspeakably 
happy. 

Cruelty  to  Children  in  the  Slums.-^-The  power 
of  the  gospel  not  only  reaches  hardened  adult  sin- 
ners, but  ignorant  little  children  are  often  bless- 
edly and  clearly  converted  to  Christ.  Little  tots 
who  have  been  trained  from  their  infancy  to  steal, 
lie,  and  deceive,  are  con  verted^  in  to  beautiful  little 
Christians.  They  have  been  sent  to  the  saloon  for 
beer  ever  since  they  were  large  enough  to  carry  a 
quart  pail.  Some  of  them  have  aided  in  the  sup^ 
port  of  the  family  by  gathering  cigar  and  cigarette 
butts  from  the  street.  But  when  they  are  con- 
verted, they  seem  to  as  instinctively  turn  away 
from  sin  as  do  those  who  are  older.  A  little  fel- 
low who  had  been  converted  at  the  service  re- 
turned to  his  home  and  said,  "  Papa,  I  am  a  Chris- 
tian, and  I  can't  gather  cigar  stubs  for  you  any 


260  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

more,"  and  instantly  his  father  knocked  him 
sprawling  across  the  room. 

A  little  girl  said,  "  Mamma,  I  have  given  my 
heart  to  Jesus,  and  I  can't  go  to  the  saloon  for  any 
more  beer,"  and  immediately  she  was  beaten  and 
bruised  in  a  most  cruel  manner.  In  some  cases 
parents  have  been  so  abusive  that  their  children 
have  had  to  be  taken  from  them.  But  in  almost 
every  case  these  little  folks  stand  true  to  Jesus. 

Little  Anna  was  at  the  altar  weeping  and  sob- 
bing one  night,  when  we  said  to  her,  "Anna,  what 
is  the  matter? "  She  said,  "  My  parents  have 
whipped  me,  and  kicked  me,  and  pounded  me,  and 
shut  me  up  in  a  dark  room,  all  because  I  was  a 
Christian,  until  I  thought  perhaps  it  would  be 
better  for  me  to  give  it  up;  but  when  I  did,  I  was 
so  miserable  that  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that 
no  difference  how  much  I  am  whipped,  or  kicked, 
or  cuffed,  I  will  stand  it  all  for  Jesus  if  He  will 
only  come  back  into  my  heart."  Of  course  He 
came  back,  and  she  rose  from  the  altar,  her  face 
radiant  with  heavenly  glory. 


JUDGMENT  IN   THE   SLUMS. 

ONE  of  our  missionaries  who  had  herself  been 
a  drunkard  for  many  years,  and  was  familiar  with 
all  the  haunts  of  vice  and  dives  of  iniquity  in  a 
certain  great  city,  was  doing  missionary  work  in 
the  slums. 

When  she  entered  a  saloon  which  she  used  to 
frequent,  the  new  bartender  protested  against  her 
doing  missionary  work,  and  said,  "  You  are  going 
to  break  up  this  man's  business,"  and  ordered  her 
out  of  the  saloon.  She  said,  "  No,  I  don't  want  to 
break  up  his  business,  but  I  want  God  to  do  it." 

She  knew  the  proprietor  well,  and  watched  for 
an  opportunity  when  he  would  be  in.  Entering 
the  saloon  one  night,  she  said  to  the  proprietor, 
who  seemed  very  glad  to  see  her,  "  Harry,  it  is  all 
right  for  me  to  distribute  tracts,  and  tell  the  girls 
in  the  saloon  about  Jesus,  is  it  not?  " 

He  said,  "Yes,  Georgia;  I  wish  all  the  girls 
were  as  you  are  to-day."  He  gave  her  perfect  lib- 
erty in  his  place,  for  he  knew  so  well  what  she 
had  been,  and  what  a  marvelous  change  the  Lord 
had  wrought  in  her  life. 

When  she  was  through,  Harry  followed  her, 
and  the  missionary  who  was  with  her,  outside, 

261 


262  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  stood  on  the  curbstone  and  wept  like  a  child 
while  she  preached  Jesus  to  him.  She  said, 
"  Harry,  you  should  go  back  into  that  saloon  and 
knock  the  head  out  of  those  barrels,  pour  out  all 
that  rum,  and  close  up  that  house." 

With  great  tears  running  down  his  face  he  said, 
"  I  know  that  is  just  what  I  should  do."  The  great 
strong,  nice-looking  man,  twenty-nine  years  old, 
stood  on  the  street  with  streaming  eyes,  and  said 
more  than  once,  "  I  feel  afraid  to  go  back  into  that 
saloon."  The  missionary  felt  it  might  be  his  last 
chance,  and  warned  him  faithfully.  The  last  thing 
he  said  to  her  was,  "  I  don't  know  but  I  will  do  as 
you  say,"  and  she  bade  him  good-night. 

As  soon  as  she  was  gone,  he  stifled  his  convic- 
tions, or  failed  in  his  courage  to  do  what  he  knew 
was  right.  About  a  week  later  he  was  sitting  in 
his  place  of  business,  his  favorite  girl,  about  whom 
he  and  another  man  had  had  trouble,  was  sitting 
by  his  side,  when  the  angered  man  entered  the  sa- 
loon, and  shot  him  all  to  pieces,  shot  him  six  times 
after  he  was  dead.  This  was  clearly  the  judgment 
of  God  on  the  place. 

The  result  was,  the  saloon  was  closed  and  three 
of  the  eight  girls  in  the  house  were  sent  to  the  Res- 
cue Home,  one  of  them  being  the  beautiful  girl 


JUDGMENT  IN  THE  SLUMS.  263 

over  whom  poor  Harry  lost  his  life.  She  has  since 
been  wonderfully  saved. 

A  further  result  of  this  awful  tragedy  was  that 
the  Chief  of  Police  had  all  the  saloons  raided  and 
closed,  that  had  girls  connected  with  them.  All 
these  scores  of  girls  were  arrested  and  sent  to  the 
House  of  Detention.  Many  of  them  were  girls 
who  had  never  been  arrested  before.  Some  of 
them  had  parents  who  knew  nothing  of  their 
whereabouts,  and  such  a  scene  of  weeping  and 
wailing  in  the  prison  has  seldom  ever  been  wit- 
nessed. The  authorities  kept  sending  them  to  our 
Rescue  Home,  until  we  had  seven  more  than  we 
could  comfortably  accommodate. 

How  marvelously  the  missionary's  prayer  was 
answered,  that  "  God  would  break  up  the  busi- 
ness." 


FANNY. 


FANNY,  THE  NOTORIOUS   HIGH-LIFE 
SPORT. 

WHAT  awful  tales  of  woe  are  poured  into  our 
ears  in  these  awful  days  of  misfortune,  vice,  and 
crime!  Our  hearts  are  broken  again  and  again, 
and  we  sincerely  hope  that  we  will  never  become 
so  accustomed  to  these  stories  of  sorrow  that  we 
will  not  be  deeply  grieved  and  touched  with  com- 
passion for  earth's  unfortunate  and  neglected. 

Fanny  B—  -  was  born  in  the  Cincinnati  Hos- 
pital in  1869.  She  was  a  legitimate  child,  but  her 
father  was  in  jail,  and  there  was  no  other  place  for 
her  to  be  born.  Owing  to  trouble  between  her 
parents,  she  was  deserted  and  thrown  into  the 
Children's  Home.* 

When  twenty-one  months  old,  she  was  adopted 
by  a  whisky  dealer  who  had  no  children  of  his 
own.  Being  unusually  bright,  she  took  to  school- 
ing, and  was  educated,  especially  in  music. 

Her  adopted  father  became  a  professional  gam- 
bler, and  deserted  his  family  entirely.  With  broken 
home  and  broken  hearts,  Fanny  and  her  foster- 
mother  were  forced  to  support  themselves  by  tak- 
ing in  washing.  Some  years  later  he  returned 

265 


266  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

and  took  Fanny's  hard  earnings,  and  set  up  in  the 
saloon  business,  where  he  is  to-day. 

She  struggled  against  awful  odds,  and  main- 
tained her  virtue  until  at  the  age  of  seventeen  she 
married  a  railroad  man,  and  thought  to  have  a 
good  home  and  live  a  happy  life.  But  alas!  he 
was  not  a  man,  but  a  villain.  The  scoundrel  soon 
proposed  that  her  pretty  face,  fine  form,  and  at- 
tractive manners  might  become  the  means  of  their 
support,  and  insisted  upon  her  selling  her  body 
for  bread.  It  seems  clear  beyond  the  utmost 
stretch  of  human  thought  of  what  atrocious,  dia- 
bolical men  can  be  capable.  How  little  our 
pure  daughters  know  what  they  are  in  the  pres- 
ence of,  when  they  meet  these  well-dressed  demons 
in  society,  many  of  them  appearing  most  amiable, 
affable,  and  gallant,  but  they  are  commissioned  re- 
cruiting officers  of  hell. 

Fanny  was  soon  made  acquainted  with  a  number 
of  cattle  shippers  and  wealthy  business  men.  She 
received  one  lesson  after  another  in  the  school  of 
vice  and  crime,  until  she  became  an  expert  in 
alluring  men  with  money  into  attractive  haunts 
of  shame,  to  be  ejected  from  these  assignation 
houses  a  few  hours  later  without  a  dollar.  At 
one  time  she  and  her  husband  grew  tired  of  this 
life,  straightened  up,  moved  to  another  city,  and 


A  NOTORIOUS  HIGH -LIFE  SPORT.  267 

for  a  time  lived  comparatively  respectable.  Dur- 
ing this  time  a  beautiful  daughter  was  born  to 
them;  but  it  was  not  long  until  his  black  heart 
broke  over  all  restraint,  and  he  became  a  thieving 
gambler,  abusing  Fanny  until  it  was  impossible  to 
live  with  him.  After  threatening  her  life  until 
she  was  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  authorities,  he 
stole  the  little  girl  and  absconded. 

Heart  sick,  and  broken  in  health,  she  despaired 
of  life.  But  about  that  time  a  wealthy  Kentucky 
man  offered  her  great  inducements  to  become  his 
mistress.  He  provided  all  he  promised.  He  lav- 
ished upon  her  diamonds,  pearls,  emeralds,  and 
rubies  until  she  fairly  glittered.  She  wore  the  best 
gowns  that  money  could  buy.  He  bought  her  a 
house  of  eleven  rooms,  carpeted  and  furnished 
with  the  best  material.  Very  soon  she  opened 
one  of  the  finest  houses  of  ill-fame  in  all  Cincin- 
nati. Everything  she  touched  turned  to  money, 
but  it  was  blood  money,  and  was  no  object  to  her. 
Many  a  time  she  and  Orpha  (who  was  with  her 
for  five  years  at  this  period  of  her  history) ,  would 
start  out  of  an  evening  with  a  thousand  dollars  or 
more  in  their  pockets,  and  think  nothing  of  spend- 
ing a  hundred  of  it  in  a  single  place,  drinking, 
smoking,  and  sporting. 

At  one  time  her  husband  returned  and  robbed 


268  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

her  of  more  than  a  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  jew- 
els, and  stole  the  daughter  a  second  time.  She 
says,  "  Then  it  was  I  thought  I  would  go  crazy." 
She  then  drank  to  excess,  smoked  cigars  and  cig- 
arettes, took  morphine  and  cocaine,  and  often 
tried  to  take  enough  to  make  her  sleep  forever. 
But  the  hand  of  God  held  her  on  earth,  and  she 
would  awake  to  awful  disappointment  when  she 
found  she  was  not  dead. 

While  she  was  madam  of  a  high-toned  house  of 
shame,  owned  her  own  property,  and  run  her  own 
saloon,  her  house  was  patronized  by  high-toned 
church  members,  wealthy  married  business  men, 
who  had  beautiful  wives  and  grown  daughters  at 
home,  who  spent  their  money  in  this  way. 

Her  husband  drifted  to  Little  Rock,  and  mar- 
ried another  man's  wife  while  he  was  away  from 
home.  The  husband  coming  home,  in  a  rage, 
overpowered  him  and  killed  him  with  his  own 
revolver. 

Excessive  drinking  caused  Fanny  to  lose  her 
house,  fortune,  and  business.  She  says:  "I  pos- 
itively know  that  for  five  years  I  drank  from  one 
quart  to  three  pints  of  whisky  every  day,  besides 
wine,  beer,  and  mixed  drinks:" 

Readers,  listen:  That  beautiful  woman  drifted 
from  that  palace  with  all  its  elegance,  from  dia- 


A  NOTORIOUS  HIGH-LIFE  SPORT.  269 

monds,  rubies,  seal  skins,  and  elaborate  and  expen- 
sive gowns,  down  and  down,  until  she  became  a 
common  drunkard.  She  is  not  able  to  tell  the 
number  of  terms  she  served  in  the  workhouse. 
She  went  lower  and  lower,  until  she  was  a  com- 
mon beggar  in  the  streets.  She  sat  up  many  a 
night  in  bar  rooms,  and  for  a  whole  week  at  a 
time  would  not  have  a  bed.  Tired,  sick,  and 
starved,  she  did  not  have  a  cent.  She  was  arrested 
time  after  time,  till  the  officers  and  judge  were 
tired  of  seeing  her.  But  let  her  speak  a  moment: 
"  When  I  had  plenty  of  money,  running  an  open 
house  without  license,  I  was  never  arrested.  Every 
month  I  went  around  to  the  saloons,  and  paid 
the  whisky  bill  of  all  the  policemen  who  traveled 
our  district,  and  as  long  as  I  would  do  that,  I  was 
never  molested." 

It  was  when  she  had  reached  the  bottom  in  pov- 
erty and  degradation,  while  begging  whisky  in  a 
low-grade  saloon,  she  was  found  by  her  old  friend 
and  comrade,  Orpha,  who  has  been  saved  from 
a  life  as  dark  as  Fanny's,  but  who  is  now  a  mission- 
ary of  the  Cross.  She  was  brought  to  the  Rescue 
Home,  where  she  very  soon  turned  to  the  Lord, 
and  sought  salvation.  Her  testimony  is  as  follows : 
"Well,  praise  the  Lord!  Glory!  Glory!  Glory! 
Praise  Him  for  His  wonderful  kindness  to  me. 


270  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

He  has  lifted  me  out  of  the  pit.  Glory  to  His 
name  forever!  I  praise  Him  for  answering 
prayer.  I  want  to  learn  enough  of  God's  Word  to 
preach  the  gospel  to  my  fallen  sisters."  To  God 
be  ail  the  glory  forever. 


1/3 

s 

g 

5 
K 


RESCUE  WORK. 

FOR  many  years  I  have  felt  a  strange  drawing 
toward  the  slums  of  the  great  centers  of  our  popu- 
lation. In  the  spring  and  summer  of  1901,  God 
laid  upon  my  heart  the  burden  of  this  awful  need 
in  this  great  sin-ridden  city  of  Chicago.  Though 
I  met  with  much  to  discourage  me,  I  felt  an  un- 
seen hand  urging  me  to  open  a  rescue  home  for  the 
fallen  girls  and  women  and  to  secure  missionaries 
to  go  through  the  dives  and  lanes  and  brothels 
and  fish  them  out  of  the  cesspools  of  sin  and  help 
them  into  the  "  fountain  for  cleansing." 

At  camp-meeting  at  Portsmouth,  where  I  had 
held  camp-meetings  for  ten  years,  I  stood  up  and 
asked  my  friends  to  give  me  fifteen  hundred  dol- 
la,rs  to  start  a  rescue  home  in  Chicago.  They 
granted  my  request  before  I  sat  down,  and  on  the 
first  day  of  October  I  opened  the  home  at  1541 
Franklin  Boulevard,  and  dedicated  it  with  tears 
and  shouts  for  joy  and  victory.  A  great  cloud  of 
His  glory  settled  down  on  the  home  that  first  day, 
and  thank  God,  it  has  never  lifted  for  an  hour. 
The  home  we  named  "  Rest  Cottage."  The  power 
of  God  in  the  home  is  so  great  that  the  girls  are 

273 


274  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

often  converted  before  they  have  been  in  the  house 
twenty-four  hours. 

A  number  of  our  girls  have  been  called  to  mis- 
sionary work;  others  of  them  are  already  real  soul 
winners,  and  others  are  in  the  Bible  School  in 
preparation  to  enter  the  field,  and  I"  believe  He 
will  make  them  mighty  soul  winners  in  the  very 
haunts  of  vice  from  which  they  have  been  taken. 

The  work  in  the  police  stations  and  jails  has 
been  crowned  with  phenomenal  success.  What 
a  great  joy  it  is  to  see  beautiful,  shining  charac- 
ters standing  true  to  Jesus  and  preaching  to  others, 
who  were  themselves  only  a  few  months  since  in 
the  depths  of  sin.  How  can  we  expect  these  poor 
girls  to  leave  their  sporting  houses  and  give  up 
sin  before  they  have  a  place  to  go?  Some  of  them 
have  been  robbed  of  their  virtue  by  some  murder- 
ous villain,  and  then  dumped  into  a  whirlpool  of 
sin  and  shame.  Shall  we  leave  them  to  die  and 
fill  nameless  graves  and  a  devil's  hell,  or  shall  we 
take  off  our  gloves  and  reach  down  and  help  them 
up  where  they  can  stand  on  the  "  Rock  of  Ages  " 
and  sing  the  song  of  redemption? 

I  was  never  more  certain  of  any  calling  than 
that  I  am  commissioned  of  Heaven  to  lift  up  the 
fallen  and  save  these  friendless,  homeless  girls 
from  an  endless  burning  hell. 


RESCUE  WORK.  275 

May  God  abundantly  bless  the  many  friends 
who  have  aided  and  contributed  so  nobly  toward 
this  work.  They  have  greatly  helped  me  by  their 
prayers;  many  have  helped  by  money,  clothing, 
bedding,  provisions,  etc.  God  bless  every  one  of 
them.  Tons  of  cast-off  clothing  and  provisions 
have  come  in  from  all  over  the  country,  which  has 
greatly  aided  the  missionary  in  relieving  the  suf- 
fering among  the  poor.  I  wish  those  who  have 
so  nobly  contributed  could  look  upon  some  of  the 
scenes  of  suffering  and  sorrow  and  then  witness 
the  joy  and  childish  glee  caused  by  their  liberality. 
My  soul  revels  with  the  glory  of  God,  and  my 
heart  fairly  bounds  with  delight  every  time  I  visit 
Rest  Cottage.  In  no  other  place  am  I  more 
blessed  of  the  Lord  than  in  the  jails  and  prisons, 
preaching  and  praying  with  the  lowest  of  the  low. 
I  often  long  for  another  opportunity. 

When  I  am  in  Chicago,  I  scarcely  ever  fail  to 
spend  my  Sunday  in  Harrison  Street  Police  Sta- 
tion. True,  I  return  from  these  revolting  sights 
sick  at  heart,  unable  to  eat  or  sleep,  but  it  keeps 
me  in  touch  with  humanity  and  a  compassionate 
Christ.  I  wreep  over  the  lost,  and  my  head  is  a 
fountain  of  tears.  The  world  is  dying  for  a  more 
tearful  religion.  May  God  keep  us  tender 


276  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

hearted  and  enough  like  our  Master  to  be  always 
moved  at  the  sight  of  suffering  and  always  ready 
to  bless  and  help  those  who  are  in  distress. 


RESCUE    HOME    AT    COLUMBUS,    OHIO. 


A   WEDDING    IN    REST    COTTAGE. 

THE  strange  story  of  Origene  and  Mable  is 
almost  unbelievable.  Some  real  facts  read  like  a 
romance,  and  are  stranger  than  fiction. 

Mable,  a  beautiful  girl  nineteen  years  old,  of 
German  and  French  extraction,  was  found  by  a 
missionary  in  one  of  the  barrel  houses  of  the 
"  Red  Light "  district  of  Chicago.  Without  re- 
luctance she  turned  from  the  haunt  of  sin  and 
came  to  Rest  Cottage.  She  said,  "  I  was  brought 
up  a  Catholic.  My  father  was  a  very  ungodly 
man.  I  was  forced  to  leave  school  at  the  age  of 
fourteen,  and  at  fifteen  was  pushed  out  into  this 
friendless  world  to  make  my  own  way.  Life  was 
a  struggle.  One  year  ago  I  met  Origene,  who  is 
now  my  husband.  He  is  in  the  Marine  Hospital, 
sick  with  pneumonia.  We  loved  each  other,  and 
went  to  a  Catholic  priest  to  be  married,  but  his 
charges  were  more  than  we  could  pay,  so  we  have 
lived  together  without  marriage  until  he  grew 
sick,  then  I  had  no  place  to  go. 

Origene  wras  of  French  and  Spanish  descent; 
was  educated  for  a  Catholic  priest.  He  was  ten 
years  in  a  convent,  and  "wore  the  robe  three  years. 
A  number  of  times  he  was  put  on  bread  and  water 

279 


280  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

diet,  because  he  dared  to  speak  to  a  woman.  The 
last  time  he  was  thus  afflicted,  he  leaped  from  a 
second-story  window,  and  made  his  escape.  He 
beat  his  way  to  Mobile,  and  shipped  to  South 
America  as  a  cabin  boy;  from  thence  to  Australia, 
then  back  to  Liverpool,  and  on  to  Boston.  He  was 
made  steward,  and  came  to  the  great  lakes.  When 
he  met  and  fell  in  love  with  Mable,  she  obtained 
a  position  on  his  boat  as  second  cook,  and  thus  they 
followed  the  water  until  he  was  taken  sick. 

Mable  was  not  long  in  Rest  Cottage  until  she 
was  gloriously  converted  to  Christ,  and  confessed 
that  they  were  not  married.  As  soon  as  he  was 
discharged  from  the  hospital,  she  preached  Jesus 
to  him  until  he  was  wonderfully  saved  from  rum 
and  tobacco,  all  sin,  and  all  desire  for  it. 

He  had  never  prayed,  except  by  the  use  of  Cath- 
olic forms,  but  under  Mable's  fiery  exhortations, 
he  was  made  to  cry  out  in  desperation  for  deliver- 
ance from  sin.  With  trembling  voice,  and  breast 
heaving  with  emotion,  he  prayed  through  to  vic- 
tory. When  the  struggle  was  over,  his  very  lips 
were  white,  and  his  face  \vas  radiant  with  holy 
joy.  His  eyes  fairly  sparkled  when  he  said,  "  It  is 
all  gone."  His  sins  were  rolled  off  of  his  soul,  and 
his  heart  was  dancing  with  delight.  They  said, 
"  Now  we  want  to  be  married,"  and  the  matron, 


A  WEDDING  IN  REST  COTTAGE.  281 

who  is  also  an  ordained  minister,  had  the  priv- 
ilege of  joining  them  in  holy  wedlock  in  the  Res- 
cue Home. 

That  was  a  simple  but  Pentecostal  wedding. 
The  power  of  God  was  so  felt  that  there  was  no 
doubt  but  that  Jesus  was  at  that  wedding,  and 
again  turned  water  into  wine.  It  was  a  time  of 
holy  joy.  They  have  both  walked  in  loyalty  to 
Christ,  giving  faithful  testimony  of  His  power 
to  save  from  all  sin. 

He  said,  "  I  was  brought  up  to  a  form  of  relig- 
ion, but  never  until  recently  have  I  known  God. 
I  have  given  up  the  use  of  tobacco.  At  a  sailors' 
meeting,  a  sailor  offered  me  a  cigar.  I  declined 
it,  and  said  I  did  not  smoke  any  more.  He  re- 
plied, '  Your  liver  must  be  out  of  fix.'  I  said,  '  No, 
I  am  a  Christian.  I  have  quit  serving  the  devil ; 
am  now  serving  God.' ' 

They  are  now  a  happy  couple,  journeying  to 
the  city  of  God.  They  may  sail  some  high  seas, 
but  they  have  taken  Jesus  as  their  pilot,  and  the 
Bible  as  their  chart,  and  we  shall  expect  to  see 
them  sail  into  the  heavenly  ports  with  flags  flying 
high.  All  glory  to  God!  It  is  another  of  the  mir- 
acles of  the  gospel  in  the  slums.  Praise  the  Lord. 


And  Jesus  said  unto  her,  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee : 
go,  and  sin  no  more.    John  8:  n. 


TESTIMONY    OF    ONE    OF    OUR    BEST 

GIRLS. 

DEAR  FATHER  REES:  The  Lord  has  certainly 
dealt  graciously  with  me,  for  I  have  not  only 
sinned  greatly,  but  have  sinned  against  light. 

In  the  first  place,  God  wonderfully  blessed  me 
with  a  Christian  mother,  one  who  was  not  only 
justified,  but  also  sanctified  and  anointed  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  fire.  When  I  was  but  seven  years  old 
I  got  under  deep  conviction  from  her  godly  life, 
seeing  her  go  about  her  work  with  a  shine  on  her 
face,  the  praises  of  God  on  her  lips,  and  singing 
the  songs  of  Zion,  always  rejoicing  in  the  Lord 
though  passing  through  severe  trials. 

I  was  so  convicted  that  I  went  to  her  three  times 
and  said,  "  Mama,  I  want  the  same  kind  of  relig- 
ion you  have."  Each  time  she  knelt  down  and 
prayed  with  me,  and  one  night  in  the  middle  of 
the  night  the  Spirit  wonderfully  revealed  Jesus  to 
me  as  my  Saviour.  How  I  shouted,  prayed,  and 
sang  that  old  song,  "  Blessed  assurance,  Jesus  is 
mine."  I  have  often  said  I  had  a  prayer  meeting 
with  the  angels. 

I  walked  in  the  light  of  my  conversion  until  I 
was  eleven,  and  got  under  conviction  for  sanctifi- 
iQ  283 


284  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

cation,  and.  was  sanctified  and  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  at  home.  I  saw  the  vision  of  an  angel 
come  in  at  the  door,  and  it  seemed  the  angel  just 
lifted  me  up,  up  above  the  world,  and  what  power 
and  glory  lilled  every  fiber  of  my  being!  How  I 
shouted  and  sang,  "  The  half  has  never  been  told." 

But  the  night  after  I  was  sanctified  I  joined  a 
dead,  formal  church,  the  members  of  which  did 
not  believe  in  sanctification,  divine  healing,  or 
saying  much  about  Jesus  or  this  salvation,  but  said 
they  believed  in  just  living  their  religion. 

Of  course  I  believed  every  one  that  said,  "  Lord, 
Lord,"  were  the  saints  of  God,  and  entered  the 
church  all  on  fire  for  God,  and  for  the  church, 
too.  They  thought  me  very  peculiar  because  I  tes- 
tified in  the  midweek  prayer  meeting  the  year 
round  (for  the  young  workers  in  the  church  never 
testified,  only  in  the  revival  meetings,  when  espe- 
cially urged  by  the  pastor).  But  I  had  real  sal- 
vation, and  could  not  keep  the  good  news  to  my- 
self. I  became  more  puzzled  all  the  time  trying 
to  agree  with  the  church  members,  because  when 
I  read  the  Word  of  God  it  plainly  taught  me 
things  they  did  not  believe  in,  and  condemned 
things  they  did,  and  yet  they  were  doing  the  work 
of  God,  and  when  they  died  expected  to  go  sweep- 
ing through  the  pearly  gates  to  glory. 


TESTIMONY  OF  ONE  OF  OUR  BEST  GIRLS.    285 

I  often  heard  the  minister  bring  in  Hebrew  and 
Greek  when  preaching,  so  sometimes  I  would 
think  perhaps  I  could  not  understand  the  Bible 
because  I  did  not  understand  Hebrew  and  Greek. 

So  by  trying  to  agree  with  these  church  mem- 
bers I  began  to  compromise,  and  therefore  was 
overcome,  and  lost  the  grace  of  God  out  of  my 
heart,  became  disgusted  with  churches  and  church 
people,  and  quit  going  to  church.  Having  other 
things  to  discourage  me,  and  having  a  longing  for 
something  to  satisfy  my  soul,  and  seeing  others 
seemingly  satisfied  with  the  pleasures  of  the  world 
and  sin,  I  determined  to  try  and  find  a  satisfying 
portion  there,  and  plunged  into  sin  and  worldly 
pleasure. 

I  found  Satan  a  hard  task-master,  and  how  he 
bound  me  to  sin.  I  got  into  trouble,  brought  dis- 
grace to  myself  and  family,  but  was  determined 
if  I  could  not  run  away  and  hide  it  all  from  my 
mother  and  folks  I  would  take  my  life.  But  God 
began  to  lead  me  otherwise.  I  had  no  one  I  could 
or  would  go  to  in  my  trouble,  so  unworthy  as  I 
was,  I  began  pleading  with  God,  and  repenting 
of  my  sins. 

I  will  never  forget  how  I  felt  when  I  first  real- 
ized I  had  lost  the  joys  of  my  salvation.  One  even- 
ing my  mother  asked  me  to  sing  some  songs  about 


286  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

living  in  the  land  of  Canaan  and  being  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  sang  them,  but  there,  was 
no  response  in  my  heart,  and  no  glad  hallelujahs 
welling  up  in  my  soul. 

I  had  never  heard  of  the  Revivalist  people,  but 
a  lady  gave  us  one  of  the  papers,  and  I  saw  the  pic- 
ture of  the  two  Rescue  Homes  in  it.  I  wrote  them, 
asking  if  I  could  come  to  one  of  the  Homes,  and 
they  answered  kindly,  saying  for  me  to  come. 
When  I  entered  the  Home  I  was  thrilled  with  joy 
to  see  the  young  women  (as  missionaries)  sing- 
ing, shouting,  praying,  weeping  over  lost  souls 
(even  fallen  girls),  preaching,  testifying  on  the 
streets,  everywhere  talking  about  Jesus  and  the 
glad  tidings  of  great  joy.  I  felt  I  had  been  right, 
that  I  had  understood  the  Bible  aright,  and  that  it 
was  for  the  young  as  well  as  the  old  to  give  up  all 
worldly  and  carnal  things  and  enjoy  this  full  sal- 
vation, and  be  firebrands  for  God.  My  conviction 
began  to  deepen;  indeed,  I  felt  as  if  I  were  on  the 
very  brink  of  hell.  I  took  a  Bible,  got  on  my 
knees,  and  prayed  the  very  prayer  David  prayed 
when  he  had  sinned  against  God,  and  longed  for 
the  joys  of  His  salvation  to  be  restored  unto  him.  I 
felt  I  needed  some  one  to  pray  with  me,  so  I  asked 
God  to  put  it  on  one  of  the  missionaries  to  come 
and  help  pray  me  through,  and  He  sent  Miss 


TESTIMONY  OF  ONE  OF  OUR  BEST  GIRLS.    287 

Stromberg.  So  one  morning  at  morning  prayers 
Miss  Stromberg  began  praying  for  me,  and  how  I 
wept  over  my  sins  for  they  seemed  to  rise  as  moun- 
tains. But  the  ever-loving,  compassionate  Saviour 
heard  my  cries,  and  they  all  disappeared  in  the 
fountain.  Miss  Stromberg  sang, 

"  Blessed  quietness,  holy  quietness, 
What  assurance  in  my  soul." 

And  indeed  it  was  so.  I  felt  I  just  wanted  to  be 
real  quiet,  and  have  nothing  disturb  that  blessed, 
holy  quietness. 

Soon  after  I  was  sanctified,  felt  clean  and  empty, 
but  the  Holy  Ghost  did  not  come  in  until  after  I 
came  home.  Bless  the  Lord,  "  the  Lion  of  Judah 
broke  every  chain,  and  has  given  me  the  victory 
again  and  again." 


Then  saith  he  to  his  servants,  the  wedding  is  ready,  but 
they  which  were  bidden  were  not  worthy.  Go  ye  therefore 
into  the  highways,  and  as  many  as  ye  shall  find,  bid  to  the 
marriage.  So  those  servants  went  out  into  the  highways, 
and  gathered  together  all  as  many  as  they  found,  both  bad 
and  good:  and  the  wedding  was  furnished  with  guests. 
Matt.  22:8-10. 


MAY  JENSEN. 

MAY  was  left  motherless  at  two  years  of  age. 
Adopted  by  a  Danish  family,  she  had  moral  train- 
ing and  ordinary  church  privileges  until  she  was 
thirteen  years  old,  at  which  time  her  own  father 
allured  her  from  her  foster  home  with  promises 
of  a  pleasure  trip  to  Denver,  fine  clothes,  etc.  He 
was  the  first  to  rob  her  of  her  purity,  and  then 
force  her  out  into  a  life  of  open  shame.  How 
atrocious  and  diabolical!  It  baffles  all  imagina- 
tion. She  secured  a  position  as  waitress  in  a  res- 
taurant, and  thought  she  would  do  better,  but  the 
position,  with  its  attending  evils,  only  threw  her 
with  questionable  associates.  She  changed  her 
name  as  often  as  she  changed  places,  that  her  brutal 
father  might  find  no  trace  of  her.  Her  life  of 
shame  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  and  she  became 
a  hard  drinker.  In  her  testimony  she  said,  "  I 
have  tried  everything  in  the  way  of  sin."  She 
served  several  terms  in  the  city  workhouse.  After 
four  years  of  this  life,  her  frail  body  gave  way 
under  the  awful  strain,  and  she  was  taken  to  the 
city  hospital  sick  with  pneumonia.  After  a  severe 
illness  she  was  discharged  before  she  was  fully 
recovered.  With  no  other  place  to  go,  she 

289 


290  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

returned  to  the  haunts  of  shame,  but  being  no 
longer  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  managers  there, 
she  Trent  to  the  Humane  Office,  and  was  returned 
to  the  hospital.  She  said,  "  How  I  longed  for 
friends,  for  some  one  to  help  me,  but  there  was 
no  voice  to  comfort,  or  no  hand  to  help."  It  was 
at  the  hospital  that  she  heard  of  Rest  Cottage, 
and  a  missionary  brought  her  to  the  Home.  Her 
poor,  emaciated  body  was  only  a  shadow  of  what 
had  once  been  a  beautiful  girl;  her  large  dark 
eyes  and  her  wavy  black  hair  were  still  beautiful. 
Her  clothing  was  not  suitable  for  the  ragbag,  her 
body  covered  with  vermin,  and  her  frame  bend- 
ing with  the  load  of  sin,  she  sighed  for  deliverance. 
The  very  next  morning  she  was  blessedly  and  con- 
sciously saved  during  prayers.  Her  life  from  that 
hour  gave  clear  evidence  of  transition  from  death 
to  life,  and  she  never  once  doubted  her  acceptance 
with  God.  She  always  referred  to  her  past  with 
great  sorrow.  Her  physical  suffering  increased 
as  the  days  went  by,  but  her  marvelous  faith  held 
her  as  a  cable  to  the  "  Rock  of  Ages." 

She  was  very  happy  amid  all  her  sufferings.  It 
was  soon  apparent  that  she  was  rapidly  approaqh- 
ing  the  end  of  her  earthly  stay.  On  the  twenty- 
ninth  of  March,  in  a  fainting  condition,  she  was  so 
near  the  heavenly  shores  that  she  gazed  on  eternal 
realities,  and  saw  the  angels  coming  for  her;  but 


MAY  JENSEN.  291 

later  when  she  revived  she  told  the  matron  that 
they  refused  to  take  her.  This  gave  the  matron 
great  concern,  for  she  knew  that  they  were  only 
waiting  for  May's  sanctification.  She  read  the 
Word,  and  prayed  with  her,  and  in  a  day  or  two, 
May  had  the  clear  witness  to  her  entire  sanctifi- 
cation. She  said,  "  Why,  I  did  not  know  that  God 
could  take  all  sin  out  of  our  hearts."  Previous  to 
this  it  was  with  difficulty  that  she  spoke,  but  now 
with  supernatural  strength  she  praised  God  for 
about  an  hour.  Her  decline  was  gradual,  but  on 
April  20  she  was  taken  much  worse.  In  her 
paroxysm  of  pain,  her  submission  to  God  was 
beautiful.  All  day  Friday  her  life  hung  in  the  bal- 
ance, but  visions  of  rapture  from  the  glory  world 
bore  her  up  in  her  hours  of  extreme  pain,  and  she 
would  often  exclaim,  "  Jesus  wants  me;  I  am  going 
to  be  home  with  Jesus.  I  am  so  glad  I  know  He 
will  take  me;  I  want  to  see  Him  first  of  all."  She 
often  tried  to  sing,  "  I  am  nearer,  drawing  nearer." 
She  was  very  appreciative  of  all  that  was  done  for 
her.  At  midnight  she  put  her  arms  around  the 

matron's  neck  and  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  Sister  M , 

what  would  I  do  if  it  were  not  for  you;  you  are  so 
kind.  And  little  Anna,  too."  (Little  Anna  was 
one  of  the  girls  in  the  Home  who  so  patiently 
waited  on  her.)  She  would  often  say,  "  I  am  not 
going  to  stay  long,  and  I  am  ready  to  go."  Sister 


292  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

F was  reading  to  her  the  twenty-third  Psalm, 

and  May  repeated  with  her,  "  Yea,  tho'  I  walk 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will 
fear  no  evil ;  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  comfort 
me."  Then  when  she  came  to,  "  Thou  anointest 
my  head  with  oil,  my  cup  runneth  over,"  she  re- 
peated it  with  heavenly  unction.  Her  heart  was 
burdened  to  the  last  for  the  lost  girls  in  the  slums. 

While  one  of  the  rescued  girls  was  praying, 
little  May,  without  a  struggle,  breathed  her  last, 
and  slipped  away  to  be  with  Jesus.  Like  the  after- 
glow of  a  beautiful  sunset,  the  glory  of  God  lin- 
gered long  in  the  room,  and  the  radiance  of  the 
skies  fell  back  on  her  beautiful,  silent  face.  Thank 
God!  She  has  passed  beyond  the  foul  touch  of 
Satan  to  where  sin,  sickness,  and  pain  are  never 
known. 

The  funeral  was  held  at  Rest  Cottage,  and  the 
rescued  girls  were  the  pall-bearers.  What  a  sacred 
sight  to  see  her  sisters  from  the  slums  bearing  her 
body  to  a  Christian  burial.  How  different  from 
a  funeral  in  the  potter's  field !  It  was  a  most  touch- 
ing occasion,  and  the  power  of  God  was  over  all. 

What  a  Christ!  What  miracles  of  grace!  Think 
of  it — from  the  cesspools  and  sewers  of  vice  and 
crime  to  a  place  on  the  best  boulevard  in  the  heav- 
enly city. 


THE  NEEDS  OF  THE  WORK. 

First.  We  need  twenty-five  more  thoroughly 
qualified  and  equipped  slum  missionaries.  They 
must  be  thoroughly  consecrated,  and  fire-baptized. 
They  must  be  willing  to  suffer  all  sorts  of  self- 
denial,  and  lay  down  their  lives  for  the  lost.  You 
can  hardly  imagine  the  perils  of  the  slums.  Be- 
sides, they  are  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  vermin,  and 
every  contagious  disease  known  to  the  climate. 

We  need  at  least  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
a  year  for  the  support  of  each  missionary,  and 
even  then  they  have  to  practice  great  economy  and 
self-denial.  With  tired  feet  they  walk  many  a 
long  walk  when  five  cents  for  car  fare  would  re- 
lieve the  situation.  Brother,  sister,  have  you  ever 
thought  what  a  glorious  privilege  it  would  be  if 
God  would  allow  you  to  support  a  slum  mission- 
ary? To  have  a  representative  preaching  the  gos- 
pel in  the  slums  and  pulling  souls  out  of  the  fire. 
What  a  reward  in  Heaven  for  every  soul  saved. 
While  you  are  asleep  at  midnight  she  is  going 
through  the  dives,  brothels,  barrel-houses,  and 
joints,  telling  the  sweet  story  of  Jesus  and  His 
power  to  save  from  sin.  Beloved,  at  least  pray 
about  it,  and  ask  God  to  send  us  the  needed  means. 

293 


294  MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS. 

Second.  There  are  two  of  the  Homes  we  ought 
to  buy.  They  are  offered  very  low,  and  if  we  are 
unable  to  buy  them,  it  will  not  be  long  until  we 
will  have  to  move.  For  this  we  need  ten  thousand 
dollars  ($10,000).  Will  all  who  read  this  report, 
pray  earnestly  that  God  may  touch  hearts  and  pro- 
vide the  means? 

Third.  Our  funds  for  relieving  the  worthy  poor 
are  entirely  exhausted.  Our  missionaries  have  a 
remarkable  capacity  for  making  a  few  dollars  go 
a  long  way  among  the  poor.  For  three  cents  they 
can  give  a  family  of  hungry  children  a  loaf  of 
bread,  and  it  is  worth  many  times  that  to  see  them 
devour  it.  For  fifteen  cents  they  can  furnish  a 
hod  of  coal  which  will  keep  them  from  freezing 
through  the  night. 

We  have  used  tons  and  tons  of  cast-off  clothing, 
and  are  able  to  use  an  almost  unlimited  quantity. 
Some  have  asked  us  to  say  what  is  needed  or  what 
we  could  use  in  the  Homes.  We  can  use  anything 
that  you  could  use  in  your  home.  Provisions,  bed- 
ding, table  linen,  toweling,  and  everything  that  is 
used  in  a  home  will  be  thankfully  received  as 
from  the  Lord. 


THE   NEEDS   OF   THE    WORK. 


FORM  FOR  PLEDGE. 

Believing  this  rescue  movement  to  be  of  God, 
and  desiring  to  aid  in  saving  the  fallen,  I  hereby 
promise  to  give  within  one  year  the  sum  of 

Dollars. 

$ Date IQO 

Name 

Address 

"  Give  and  it  shall  be  given  unto  you."    Luke  6 :  38. 
"  He  which  soweth  sparingly  shall  also  reap  sparingly." 
2  Cor.  9 : 6. 

"He  that  giveth  unto  the  poor  shall  not  lack."     Prov. 

28 : 27. 

Money  to  be  sent  to  — 
SETH  C.  BEES,  4356  LOWELL  AVE.,  CHICAGO. 


CLEAR        SCRIPTURAL        HELPFUL 


THE  HOLY  WAR 


A  New  book.         By  SETH  COOK  REES 


Most  wars  are  unholy.  They  are  fought  with  carnal  weapons  and 
are  the  result  of  human  depravity.  But  this  book  tells  of  the  war  of 
Truth  against  Error,  of  Right  against  Wrong,  of  the  Holy  Spirit  against 
the  powers  of  Darkness  and  Hell. 

S.  Henry  Bolton  says:  "  '  Holy  War  '  contains  the  very  essence  of 
the  gospel,  and  will  edify  God's  saints,  inspiring  them  to  fight  on  '  more 
than  victors  '  in  every  conflict.  Each  chapter  is  worth  the  price  of  the 
book.  Just  so  long  as  God's  people  keep  their  eyes  en  the  Captain  oi 
their  salvation,  and  march  in  step  with  His  commands,  there  will  be 
victorious  saints.  '  Holy  War  '  gives  the  secret  of  '  Holy  Living.'  '' 

CONTENTS 

1.  THE  HOLY  WAR.  8.   LABORERS  WITH  GOD. 

2.  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  GOSPEL.  9.  JOY  AND  STRENGTH. 

3.  MONARCH  BORN  IN  a.  STABLE.  ro.   HOLINESS  UNTO  THE  LORD. 

4.  THE  BESETTING  SIN.  n.  THE  GOOD  SPIRIT  OF  TH  LORD 

5.  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANAAN.  12.   RESURRECTION. 

6.  MESSENGER  OF  THE  COVENANT.  13.  THE  PERFECTION  WHICH  Gor 

7.  OUR  FATHER'S  CARE.  REQUIRES. 

Price,  80  Cents.    Four  Copies  Postpaid  for  $2.20.     Special 
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4356  Lowell  Ave.  CHICAGO,   ILL. 


THE  IDEAL  PENTECOSTAL  CHURCH 


By  SETH  COOK  REES 


One  writer  says,  "It  is  a  treatise  on  the  characteristics  and  qualities  of  the 
Pentecostal  Church,  i.  e.,  that  part  of  the  Church  which  has  received  her  Pentecost. 
Our  author  writes  not  as  a  theorist  but  as  one  who,  having  received  the  baptism  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  fire,  has  proven  himself  '  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,'  and  has  witnessed  under  his  own  ministry  the  striking  characteristics  of  a 
Pentecostal  Church.  In  putting  this  work  before  the  public  he  seeks  only  the  glory 
of  God."  This  book  sets  forth  the  qualities  and  characteristics  of  the  real  New 
Testament  Church  in  seventeen  chapters,  together  with  a  half-dozen  sermons  and 
the  author's  experience. 

CONTENTS 

Chapter  i.  Opening  Words.  2,  The  Pentecostal  Church  is  Composed  of  Regei* 
crated  Souls.  3,  A  Clean  Church.  4,  A  Powerful  Church.  5,  A  Powerful  Church, 
continued.  6,  A  Witnessing  Church.  7,  Without  Distinction  as  to  Sex.  8.  A 
Liberal  Church.  9,  A  Demonstrative  Church.  10,  An  Attractive  Church  —  Draws  the 
People  Together,  n.  Puts  People  under  Conviction.  12,  Will  have  Healthy  Con- 
verts. 13,  A  Joyful  Church.  14,  A  Unit.  15,  The  Power  of  the  Lord  Is  Present  to 
Heal  the  Sick.  16,  A  Missionary  Church.  17,  Out  of  Bondage.  18,  Entering  into 
Canaan.  19,  The  Land,  and  Its  Resources.  20,  Sampson.  21.  Power  above  the 
Power  of  the  Eenemy.  22,  Compromise,  and  Its  Evil  Effects.  23,  A  Sermon.  24, 
The  Author's  Experience. 

FROM  MANY  TESTIMONIALS  WE  SELECT  A  FEW: 

IV.  B.  Godbey:  "The  Pentecostal  Church,  by  Rev.  Seth  C.  Rees,  the  fire-baptized 
Quak.  r  is  a  Niagara  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  orthodox  and  full  of  experimental 
truth  r.nd  Holy  Ghost  fire.  You  can  not  afford  to  do  without  it.  I  guarantee  you 
will  b~  delighted  and  electrified  from  Heaven's  batteries." 

Christian  Standard :  "It  is  safe,  sound  and  evangelical,  uncontroversial  and 
admirably  adapted  to  circulation  among  all  believers." 

Michigan  Christian  Advocate:  "He  writes  in  a  sweet  and  attractive  spirit.  We 
could  wish  it  a  wide  circulation." 

Religious  Telescofe;  "It  is  written  in  clear,  nervous  English  and  glows  through- 
out with  the  evangelical  fervor  of  its  author." 

Rev.  George  Hughes.  Editor  of  the  Guide  to  Holiness:  "I  like  it;  it  is  square  out, 
and  that  suits  me.  It  ought  to  have  a  good  sale."  ^ 

Rev.  John  M,  Pike,  Editor  of  Way  of  Faith:  "The  book  glows  and  burns  with 
Holy  Ghost  fire,  and  has  stirred  our  spirtual  being  to  its  very  depths." 

T.  J.  Hoskinson:  "A  faithful  presentation  of  the  truth.  There  is  nothing  better 
in  print." 

L.Milton  Williams:  "I  know  of  no  othsr  man  in  the  holiness  movement,  whose 
books  and  preaching  have  been  of  more  blessing  to  my  own  soul  than  those  of 
Brother  Seth  C.  Rees." 

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Price  of  Three.    Special  Rates  by  the  Quantity 


SETH    COOK    REES 


4356  Lowell  Ave. 


CHICAGO,    ILL. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


MIRACLES  IN  THE  SLUMS,  OR,  THRILLING  STO 


